Welcome to the February 2026 Innovating Payments Executive Summary. In this issue: The White House held a crypto meeting on February 2 with U.S. banks and crypto firms around pending legislation aimed at breaking a deadlock between the banking and cryptocurrency sectors over how interest and other rewards paid on stablecoins are treated.
Meanwhile, recent research reports highlight banking trends expected to shape the payments landscape in the coming year. These trends include advancements in digital payment technologies, increased adoption of AI-driven experiences, and the growing influence of fintech companies on traditional banking practices.
In other news, the FedNow Service kicked off the year with a new milestone. “The instant payments network now has more than 1,600 participants (Off-site) — a mix of the nation’s largest financial institutions and community banks and credit unions of all sizes,” according to a news release. “Additionally, 45 service providers are certified to support payment processing for participants.”
Nacha announced its ACH Network volume and value for 2025, along with several notable milestones. Additionally, Nacha released ACH Network results for Q4 of 2025. There were 9.1 billion ACH payments valued at $24.4 trillion, representing increases of 5.1% and 8.9%, respectively, over the last quarter of 2024.
Read on to learn more.
Top Headline
White House Holds Crypto Meeting Aimed at Breaking Deadlock
The February 2 White House meeting aimed at breaking a deadlock with U.S. banks and crypto firms around pending legislation, concluded without agreement, Reuters reported. Progress on advancing the legislation has centered on a disagreement between the banking and cryptocurrency sectors over how interest and other rewards paid on stablecoins are treated. Financial institutions have pushed for language in the bill that would prohibit this practice.
Representation from the financial services sector included the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), American Bankers Association (ABA), Bank Policy Institute (BPI), Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), and the Financial Services Forum (FSF). They released this joint statement after the meeting:
We want to thank the administration for hosting today’s constructive conversation and for recognizing the importance of the banking industry's perspective on market structure legislation. As we shared in the meeting, we must ensure that any legislation supports the local lending to families and small businesses that drives economic growth and protects the safety and soundness of our financial system. Banks of all sizes will continue to work with lawmakers, the White House, and other stakeholders to help develop thoughtful, effective policy around digital assets.
To support the joint news release, the ICBA provided additional background resources on its website, highlighting some of the groups’ recent advocacy and research on the stablecoin yield/interest issue:
Reuters noted that the source anticipated subsequent White House meetings to attempt to resolve the impasse.
White House Holds Second Crypto Meeting on February 10
As reported by the ICBA, after a February 10 meeting at the White House on crypto market structure legislation, the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, and the Independent Community Bankers of America issued the following joint statement:
We thank the White House for hosting today's meeting and continue to share the administration's strong interest in finding agreement on crypto market structure legislation. As we noted during the meeting, that framework can and must embrace financial innovation without undermining safety and soundness, and without putting the bank deposits that fuel local lending and drive economic activity at risk. We look forward to ongoing discussions to move market structure legislation forward.
We will be following this story closely and will provide updates as they become available.
Research
Banking Top Trends 2026
In other news, a series of recently released reports highlights banking trends expected to shape the payments landscape in the coming year. These trends include advancements in digital payment technologies, increased adoption of AI-driven experiences, and the growing influence of fintech companies on traditional banking practices.
One such report is from Capgemini Financial Services, Banking Top Trends for 2026, which highlights data points across three interconnected areas—customer engagement, operational efficiency, and technological innovation.
Here are some key points from the report:
- Over 60% of retail banking customers exclusively conduct banking transactions through digital channel interactions—driving banks to reimagine customer engagement through intelligent, AI-driven, and gamified digital experiences.
- With non-cash transaction volumes projected to double by 2029—up from 1,685 billion in 2024—driven by in-app and wallets, payment service providers are leveraging technology to improve efficiency and scale operations.
- As 55% of payment executives prioritize investing in new technologies, firms are working to build trusted, intelligent payment ecosystems that can adapt to emerging risks and opportunities.
The report also suggests various opportunities for financial institutions to consider, including:
- Create an AI-driven regulatory platform to automate updates to sanctions and regulatory workflows.
- Use agentic AI to automate compliance and enhance transaction monitoring systems, while leveraging autonomous decision-making to reduce costs and speed up response times.
- Centralize transaction data that enables real-time fraud detection across payment channels, so payment firms can proactively manage risk.
- Modernize payment architectures to enable payment orchestration across traditional and emerging methods—including digital currencies—to drive agility, new revenue streams, and a competitive edge.
To learn more, download the trends book and infographic.
What’s Going on in Banking?
Meanwhile, Cornerstone Advisors announced the release of its report, What’s Going On in Banking 2026: AI, Crypto, and Fraud—Oh My!. Drawing on insights from 416 senior executives at institutions with assets ranging from $250 million to $50 billion, this year’s report combines survey data with analysis and highlights what requires immediate action, according to the company website.
Some of the key takeaways from the report include:
- Credit unions lead in AI deployment, with 59% already using generative AI.
- Deposit gathering and new customer growth are top priorities, with 58% and 51% of bank executives citing them as concerns, respectively.
- Credit unions show a similar trend, with 69% citing new member growth as a concern.
You can download the full report by clicking here.
Consumer Bankers Association Releases White Paper
Additionally, the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) issued a new white paper, Agentic AI Payments: Navigating Consumer Protection, Innovation, and Regulatory Frameworks, which explores how emerging agentic artificial intelligence tools could reshape consumer payments. It also examines various opportunities and risks for consumers, banks, merchants, and policymakers, according to a company news release.
It goes on to highlight key trends the paper covers:
- How agentic payments differ from traditional electronic payments, particularly when consumers are not directly authorizing transactions at the point of sale;
- Potential gaps in existing legal and regulatory frameworks, including the application of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Truth in Lending Act to agent-initiated transactions;
- Risks related to misaligned incentives, fraud, data use, and consumer misunderstanding, especially as new payment rails and AI-driven commerce models emerge;
- And more.
Kevin Chen, Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Policy for CBA, makes this compelling point: “Electronic payments only achieved mass adoption because clear rules of the road gave consumers confidence. Agentic payments may be at a similar inflection point.”
You can download the full white paper here.
FedNow™
FedNow™Service celebrates new milestone, welcomes Q4 participants
In other news, the FedNow Service kicked off the year with a new milestone. “The instant payments network now has more than 1,600 participants (Off-site) — a mix of the nation’s largest financial institutions and community banks and credit unions of all sizes,” according to a news release. “Additionally, 45 service providers are certified to support payment processing for participants.”
“Looking ahead, we’re committed to driving collaborative innovation and evolving the FedNow Service to spur new use cases that unlock greater efficiency and deliver lasting value across the U.S. payments ecosystem,” Chief FedNow Executive Nick Stanescu said in the release.
The service also welcomed more than 100 financial institutions (PDF) and two service providers, which joined the FedNow Service in Q4 2025 to deliver the speed and efficiency of instant payments to the consumers and businesses they serve.
Nacha
Same Day ACH and Business-to-Business Payments Propel ACH Network Volume Growth in 2025
The ACH Network reached new highs in 2025 as standard and Same Day ACH use continued to grow, Nacha announced in a news release. Full-year ACH Network volume hit 35.2 billion payments, an increase of nearly 5% from 2024. The total payment value climbed to $93 trillion, up almost 8%.
Other key data points include:
- December 2025 recorded the ACH Network’s highest monthly volume of 3.22 billion payments, including a record 172.1 million Same Day ACH payments.
- In November 2025, the ACH Network set a record average daily volume of 151 million payments.
Additionally, there were 1.4 billion Same Day ACH payments valued at $3.9 trillion last year, representing increases of 16.7% and 21.4% from 2024, respectively. And same Day ACH payments averaged 5.8 million per day in 2025, and 7.8 million per day in December 2025.
You can read the full news release here, and download the infographic here.
NEACH
Have you checked out NEACH’s latest post, “Banking as a Service: An Opportunity for Payments Innovation,” on its Members Corner website? “Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is reshaping how financial institutions (FIs) deliver payment services,” says NEACH Executive Vice President Joe Casali, AAP, AFPP, APRP.
He adds:
The BaaS market is forecasted to reach $60.35 billion by 2030. However, in a recent NEACH poll, only 21.74% of financial professionals surveyed feel confident about their BaaS understanding, while 78.26 % admit they're neutral or have little to no familiarity with it.
BaaS allows non-bank and fintech platforms to partner with licensed banks to provide financial products and services without building their own banking infrastructure. This model is taking off among fintech startups, non-bank FIs, and even legacy tech companies seeking to embed banking capabilities into their platforms.
For more information on BaaS and how it can support your FI, check out NEACH's webinar "Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and Fintech Partnerships," part of our 2026 Emerging Payments Technology Bundle. For those interested in an examiner-ready program that equips financial institution leaders to design, launch, and govern fintech partnerships and embedded payments safely and profitably under full institutional oversight, check out NEACH's new Fintech Integration Leadership series.
NEACH - New England Automated Clearing House Association is a neutral, member-focused advocate. Our role is to give you the intelligence, context, and connections you need to make informed strategic decisions. We bring together industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators so you can evaluate innovation through the lens of your institution’s mission and market strategy. For more information, visit neach.org.