Rapyd Prepares Its Official Colombia Launch

Hey Payments Fanatic!

Rapyd is preparing for its official launch in Colombia, marking the next chapter after its $610 million acquisition of PayU's business across Latin America and other international markets.

The company isn't entering as a new player. It already operates in Colombia through the former PayU infrastructure. What's changing now is the rollout of the Rapyd brand and, over time, a much broader suite of financial infrastructure—from cross-border payments and multi-currency accounts to card issuing, embedded finance, and digital wallets.

The move reflects a broader shift across payments. Global infrastructure providers are no longer expanding country by country from scratch. They're acquiring established local platforms and building a single global network on top of them.

Further down, I've also put together a simple breakdown of Payment Orchestration—how it evolved, why more merchants are adopting it, and the role smart routing and orchestration play in improving payment performance.

See what else is shaping Payments. 👇 See you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Marcel

INSIGHTS

🤔 Understanding 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

 Let's dive in👇

NEWS

🇬🇧 Mastercard examines the sale of UK payments subsidiary Vocalink. The potential deal comes amid concerns over foreign ownership of critical payments infrastructure and increased regulatory scrutiny of the UK payments market. Keep reading

🇵🇰 Mastercard and Bank of Punjab expand strategic partnership to boost Pakistan’s Digital Economy. The collaboration will focus on transit payments, government disbursements, cross-border remittances, and expanding the adoption of secure digital payment solutions across the country.

🇨🇴 Rapyd has set a date for its official launch in Colombia, with plans to begin operations between September and October. Following its acquisition of PayU's operations, FinTech aims to expand its portfolio of payment and financial services for businesses.

🌍 Stablecoin market cap has shrunk by $10 billion since May, but an analyst sees no reason to panic. The stablecoin market recorded its largest monthly contraction since 2022, with market capitalization falling by about $7.7 billion in June as crypto trading activity and on-chain liquidity weakened. Read more

🇧🇴 Bolivia weighs adding Tether's USDT to its national payments system as part of a broader effort to modernize digital payments. The proposal follows the country's easing of crypto restrictions and a sharp increase in digital asset adoption, though the framework remains under regulatory review.

🇪🇺 European Dynamics and Viva.com have been selected by the European Commission's DG TAXUD to develop and operate the central payments platform for the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. The platform will manage certificate payments for businesses across all 27 EU member states.

🇰🇷 KakaoPay Securities wins a broker-dealer license and enters the Korean IPO market. With this license, Kakaopay Securities can now underwrite, trade, and sell marketable securities using its own capital in addition to its existing brokerage of marketable securities. 

🇦🇺 Stripe has launched a beta version of Treasury in Australia, expanding beyond payments into business banking and treasury services. The offering includes business accounts, virtual cards, multi-currency support and stablecoin capabilities, strengthening Stripe's competition in cross-border financial services.

🇮🇳 OneCard to raise Rs 72 Cr in its ongoing Series D round led by Peak XV. The capital will support the mobile-first credit card platform as it continues discussions with regulators to resume new co-branded card issuance. Continue reading

🇦🇪 Remitly granted a Stored Value Facilities licence from the Central Bank of the UAE. With the SVF licence secured, Remitly will be able to bring new products, purpose-built to serve UAE customers. Keep reading

🌍 Payaza expands to Australia and New Zealand to tap cross-border trade corridors. These regulatory authorisations enable the company to facilitate remittances, cross-border payments, foreign exchange services, and certain virtual asset transactions, strengthening its ability to move money between businesses across multiple jurisdictions.

GOLDEN NUGGET

🇺🇸 𝐯𝐬 🇪🇺 — 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞. 👇Created by Arthur Bedel 💳 ♻️

Two terms that sound identical. Two very different realities.

One is already reshaping how people shop. The other is still blocked by European regulation.

Both worth $1 trillion by 2030.

This is the breakdown Payplug just published in their 2026 Retail Pulse, and the framing is sharp.

𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐬

This one is live. AI searches, compares, and prepares the basket. The human still clicks pay.

→ 40% of global consumers are ready to let AI shop for them

→ 63% expect their AI to find the lowest prices and best deals

It is already maturing across three levels. AI that suggests, AI that prepares, AI that triggers a reorder automatically.

𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐬

This one is coming. AI executes the transaction. No human in the loop.

The prize:

→ $5.3T in global e-commerce in 2026

→ $1T to be AI-orchestrated by 2030

But Europe has a problem. PSD2 and SCA still require human validation for security. The technology is ready. The regulatory framework is not.

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧

🇺🇸 The US is the laboratory. Walmart, OpenAI, Etsy are running AI checkout experiments in real time. Crypto is emerging as native infrastructure for AI agents, with programmable transactions outside the banking rails. Moving fast.

🇪🇺 Europe is the framework. Slower on use cases. Ahead on the trust framework that will actually make agentic payments scale safely. Trust-by-design is the play.

This is exactly where European PSPs like Payplug become interesting to watch. As part of Groupe BPCE, they sit at the intersection of regulated French commerce and the next-gen payment journeys merchants will need when agentic payments finally land in Europe. The PSPs anticipating this shift today, not when the regulation opens up, will be the ones merchants reach for tomorrow.

Both approaches are valid. Neither is directly transferable.

Here is the thesis. Agentic commerce is already here. Agentic payments will wait for trust, regulation, and infrastructure to catch up with the AI.

The merchants who design the new payment journeys now will own the next wave.

Source: Payplug Retail Pulse 2026

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