Year-in-Review: The Biggest Wins, Challenges & Innovations in Payments This Year
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Looking Back at a Year of Progress and Innovation
As the year wraps up, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on how much the payments and ATM industry has evolved. From regulatory updates to new technology adoption, this year brought measurable progress — and some important turning points.
Here are the biggest themes we saw across ATM operations, merchant services, and self-service technology.
Innovation Accelerated Across the Industry
The pace of innovation felt different this year — noticeably faster. Businesses adopted automation tools, self-service kiosks expanded beyond food service, and cash recyclers gained traction in traditional retail and emerging sectors.
Key innovation highlights:
- Kiosks added new capabilities, including bill pay, verification, and multi-service workflows.
- ATMs saw broader adoption of cash recyclers, reducing labor and armored costs.
- POS systems became smarter, integrating loyalty, inventory, and omnichannel data more seamlessly.
- Monitoring tools like Watchdog gained visibility, as operators prioritized uptime.
The industry didn't simply modernize — it accelerated.
Compliance Became a Major Focus
2024–2025 brought a significant tightening of card-brand requirements. The most notable was MasterCard's emphasis on address accuracy.
Clear Choice responded early by updating TMS to automatically validate city/state/ZIP combinations against USPS records — ensuring operators stay compliant and portfolios stay clean.
This was one of many reminders that compliance is no longer a background task. It is a performance metric, and acquirers are being evaluated more closely than ever.
Cash Remained Surprisingly Resilient
Despite predictions of a "cashless" world, usage held strong, especially in:
- Convenience & fuel
- Nightlife & hospitality
- Event venues
- Dispensaries
- Rural markets
And with inflation still influencing consumer behavior, cash continues to play a vital role in budgeting and accessibility.
ATMs are far from going out of style — they remain a profitable, stable foundation for independent operators.
Operators Adapted — and Thrived
From small deployers to full-scale portfolios, operators embraced:
- Smarter terminals
- Better data hygiene
- Routing efficiencies
- More consistent monitoring
- Diversification across ATM, POS, and kiosk solutions
This year wasn't just about keeping up — many operators built stronger, more resilient businesses.
Looking Ahead
If this year showed us anything, it's that technology and compliance will continue to converge — and those who stay agile will win.
Clear Choice is proud to help partners navigate every shift, every regulation, and every opportunity.
Here's to a year of progress — and an even stronger 2026.
Ready to start 2026 strong?