1) How people use GenAI 2) The Global Payments, Worldpay & FIS deal

Welcome to my newsletter! Each week two hand-picked topics from the world of fintech, payments and banking with behind-the-scenes analysis!

1) How people use GenAI

Generative AI is moving from office assistant to day-to-day companion. This is how people are using it along with top use cases.

Top Generative AI Use Cases in 2025

• Emotional and Mental Health Support: AI tools are increasingly used for therapy, coaching, and companionship, providing accessible mental health support.​

• Personal Organization and Productivity: Individuals leverage AI for managing schedules, tasks, and enhancing daily productivity.​

• Self-Discovery and Purpose-Finding: Users employ AI to explore personal goals and values, aiding in self-reflection and purpose identification.​

• Learning and Skill Development: AI assists in educational pursuits, helping users acquire new skills and knowledge through interactive learning experiences.​

• Creative Expression: AI serves as a tool for creativity, aiding in writing, art, music, and other creative endeavors by generating ideas and content.

Changes from 2024 to 2025

• Shift from Productivity to Personal Growth: In 2024, AI was primarily used for work-related tasks like drafting emails and summarizing documents. By 2025, there's a noticeable shift towards personal development applications, such as mental health support and self-discovery.​

• Integration into Daily Life: AI has become more embedded in everyday activities, moving beyond professional use to assist in personal organization and creative hobbies.​

• Enhanced Accessibility: Advancements have made AI tools more user-friendly and accessible, broadening their use across various demographics and needs.

Summary: Panagiotis Kriaris, Sources: The 2025 Top-100 Gen AI Use Case Report, Harvard Business Review, Filtered, Marc Zao-Sanders

2) The Global Payments, Worldpay & FIS deal

This is a major shake-up. Global Payments is buying Worldpay (in part from FIS) and selling its issuer business to FIS. Here's my take.

𝟭. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹?

• Global Payments acquires Worldpay for ~$31B (net ~$22.7B):

- 45% from FIS for $6.6B

- 55% from GTCR for $24.3B

• FIS acquires 100% of Global Payments' Issuer Solutions for $13.5B

𝟮. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀?

• Global Payments Inc. – A top-3 global merchant acquirer and payment tech company

• FIS – A global fintech leader in banking, issuer processing, and capital markets

• GTCR – A US private equity firm that acquired a majority stake in Worldpay in 2023

𝟯. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀?

• Becomes a focused, pure-play merchant solutions player by exiting issuer processing

• Monetizes non-core business (issuing) that lacked scale and synergy

• Closes the e-commerce and enterprise gap, complementing its SMB and software-led model

• Gains scale at a discount - buying Worldpay at 8.5× EBITDA is far below peers

• Targets $600M in cost synergies and $200M in new revenue within 3 years

• Strengthens global reach in underpenetrated markets (Nordics, France, Japan)

• Improves product depth in card-not-present and cross-border

𝟰.𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝗜𝗦?

• Refocuses on core banking and issuing by exiting merchant acquiring — reversing the Worldpay bet and returning to its strength: serving financial institutions

• Adds credit processing scale, filling a key product gap

• Replaces a minority stake in Worldpay with a cash-generating, recurring revenue stream

• Unlocks $1.6B in cross-sell potential across top 150 global banks

• Strengthens its ability to bundle core banking, digital, risk, and card services

• Targets $150M in EBITDA synergies, with long-term upside

𝟱.𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

• Focus on specialization: Global Payments focuses on merchants; FIS doubles down on financial institutions.

• Full-stack models become less attractive: scale and depth in one domain now matter more than breadth across many.

• Mid-tier players might face a strategic squeeze: without clear focus or global scale, many will struggle to compete.

• M&A momentum: expect more carve-outs and targeted deals as firms streamline.

• Embedded finance and issuer scale set the tone: whether you serve merchants or banks, delivering deeply integrated, high-volume capabilities is now the game to win.

Opinions: my own, Graphic sources: Global Payments, FIS