What MPE 2025 told us about the future of acquiring

Acquirers need to move faster, deliver more value and cut through growing complexity

Across three days at MPE 2025 - the highlight of the acquiring events calendar - the key messages were consistent from experts, panels and even the chats at Tribe Payments’ stand: Acquirers need to move faster, deliver more value and cut through growing complexity.

But they cannot do any of that without the right foundation. Here’s what we learned:

Frictionless flows aren’t a nice-to-have, they’re expected

Shoppers’ expectations for one-click, in-app experiences on social platforms, and the rise of embedded payments, are reshaping what merchants want from their payment providers.

They expect experiences that feel instant, seamless and invisible. Anything less is starting to feel outdated.

Acquirers are under pressure to support more channels, more payment types and faster onboarding, without compromising stability or compliance. This demand for simplicity on the surface creates added complexity behind the scenes.

"Merchants want visibility across every touchpoint," says Dumitru Ciucium, Acquiring Product Manager at Tribe Payments. "They want to track and improve, and not just plug into another system and hope for the best."

Fraud is evolving and static tools are falling short

From AI-driven attacks to instant payment fraud, threats are moving faster than ever.

At MPE, fraud was not treated as a standalone topic as it came up across discussions about infrastructure, risk and merchant trust. To keep pace, acquirers need prevention tools that adapt to change and respond quickly without adding friction.

Data strategy starts with infrastructure

Everyone wants to be data-driven but when your systems are fragmented, your tools do not talk to each other and real-time visibility is patchy, it becomes impossible.

It is clear, at least for us, that neither acquirers nor merchants can unlock the full value of their acceptance data until their infrastructure is connected, consistent and built for visibility across offline and online channels.

"The acquirers that will win are the ones who build with adaptability baked in, and infrastructure that won’t trip them up when things change." 

- Robin Anderson, Head of Product Management

What we heard at the stand

Over the course of the event, we asked a simple question: "What’s your biggest frustration in payments acceptance today?"

The result? Fragmented infrastructure topped the list.

This reinforced the idea of acquirers facing growing complexity, often with too little control. 

And the list of pain points goes on:

• Cross-border complexity
• Requirement for multiple partners due to lack of interoperability
• Prohibitive costs of integration
• High transaction fees
• Fraud and security risks

None of these are new problems, but there was a clear sense of fatigue with patchwork solutions. Acquirers are ready for infrastructure that gives them control, not more dependencies.

Our takeaway? Infrastructure is the enabler

From reducing friction to improving fraud response, unlocking data and simplifying global acceptance, it all comes back to the same point: The right infrastructure enables acquirers to move faster, serve better and grow on their own terms.

"It's not about having the flashiest features anymore," says Robin Anderson, Head of Product Management at Tribe. "The acquirers that will win are the ones who build with adaptability baked in, and infrastructure that won't trip them up when things change."

If you’re ready to future-proof your acceptance ecosystem get in touch with us and let’s build something that works better for you and your merchants.