ABOUT
The Global Cards & Payments Innovation Awards, organised by The Digital Banker, exist to honour and celebrate the world’s pre-eminent and groundbreaking card schemes, payment service providers and payment technology companies that are transforming the global payments ecosystem.
The Digital Banker Awards are accolades of excellence and distinction, attributed to outstanding players; and provides unbiased and objective benchmarks for the global industry. The Global Cards & Payments Innovation Awards is the premier assessment programme dedicated to recognising excellence in the use of technology by payment institutions worldwide. These awards celebrate the most cutting-edge payment service providers that have materially impacted and disrupted traditional payment architecture and frameworks, while dramatically driving payment modernisation efforts with the introduction of real-time payment infrastructures.
If you identify your organisation and/or professionals as industry leaders that are pushing boundaries and pioneering unsurpassed innovation across payments – we welcome you to send in your nominations.
WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR?
The 2026 Global Cards & Payments Innovation Awards reflect the continued evolution of the payments ecosystem as institutions expand real-time payment capabilities, cross-border interoperability and embedded payment services.
This year’s programme introduces several new award titles recognising emerging areas of innovation across the sector. These include SME payments innovation, payments orchestration services, POS and in-store payment solutions, biometric payments initiatives, and payments market entry and expansion strategies, alongside growing applications of generative AI, data analytics and cloud-powered payment infrastructure.
These additions recognise institutions delivering practical innovation that strengthens the efficiency, security and accessibility of modern payment systems.
WHY NOMINATE?
The Global card and payments are undergoinglandscape is being considerably reshaped by the formation of new payment infrastructures drivingstructural change, driven by the rollout of new payment infrastructure, the expansion of cross-border capabilities, and the increasing sophistication of product and service integration. At the same time, artificial intelligence and both domestic and cross-border payments coupled with innovation in product & service solutions and integration of new AIgenerative /Gen-AI are beginning to influence areas such as fraud prevention, personalisation, routing optimisation, and operational efficiency.based use cases. Given consumer demand for alternate choices, payment service providers are hard pressed to modernize their technology stacks to support their customer’ preferred payment method and address unique payment needs. .
Payment service providers face mounting pressure to modernise legacy technology stacks, support a growing range of payment methods, and respond to evolving customer expectations without compromising regulatory compliance or security. Cost discipline and fraud mitigation remain central considerations.
The Global Cards & Payments Innovation Awards provide a platform to demonstrate how institutions are delivering reliable, seamless and secure payment experiences through well-executed innovation, robust governance and disciplined implementation.
Clearly, the industry is at an inflection point and it is crucial for card & payment providers to strike a balance between innovation, regulatory adherence, and security to facilitate superior payment journeys and enhance the user experience for clients, while also controlling costs and reducing fraud. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that payment institutions deliver exceptional instant, reliable and seamless payment experiences through innovative business models and services.
WHO CAN APPLY?
The Global Cards & Payments Innovation Awards programme is open to all participants within the payment’s ecosystem. We invite nominations from banks, fintech/pay-tech, digital/e-Wallet providers, digital/e-Wallet platforms, payment providers, card issuers, international card schemes, acquirers, processors, 3rd party processors and eCommerce payment platforms.
JUDGING METHODOLOGY
Shortlisted nominees are selected on the qualitative and quantitative depth of their nominations. The Digital Banker research team will shortlist four institutions or individuals per category, which will then be put to our impartial panel of expert judges who will undertake a rigorous audit type process to carefully select the winners.
We use a proprietary, numerical & qualitative scoring methodology which is applied to all submissions and augmented by assessment in: Innovation, Experience, Engagement and Security with additional focus on how these initiatives are impacting the wider payments ecosystem.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINE
Only projects that have been completed in 2025 or 1H 2026 will be accepted. Initiation of the project can be earlier. The Digital Banker does not require a specific commencement date. We do not place a limit on the number of submissions per institution. Please be aware that multiple submissions by a single organisation for a single category will compete with each other. A separate submission is required for each category. Please submit all the entries on the platform by choosing the correct category and award title.
