Despite the challenges posed by expansionary monetary policy, geopolitical uncertainties, pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, and a macroeconomic environment with heightened inflation and increased energy costs, the global payments industry witnessed an exceptional 2022. The top 20 public payment companies experienced a notable 15.5% increase in their top-line performance, reaching a total of $228 billion, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The US payment companies dominated the list with the top four – American Express, Visa, PayPal, and Mastercard – accounting for 58.5% of the aggregate revenue of the top 20. Driven by an increase in global payment volume, the big four grew by more than 10%.

Other companies in the top 20 list that recorded impressive top-line growth include Adyen, WAG Payment Solutions (Eurowag), WEX, and Fleetcor Technologies. Each grew by more than 20%. Eurowag and Nuvei are the new entrants replacing Lakala Payment and Evertec.

Murthy Grandhi, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Adyen’s growth can be attributed to its remarkable progress of processed volumes that surpassed half a trillion, reaching EUR767.5 billion in 2022, reporting a year-on-year (YoY) growth rate of 49% and a CAGR of 48.2% over the past five years. Of these volumes, point-of-sale (POS) accounted for 15% translating to EUR115.1 billion. The company’s revenue expanded due to a greater increase in settlement and processing fees.”

Integrated payments and mobility platform player Eurowag’s 27.9% revenue growth was a result of higher energy prices and growing scale of payment solutions.

WEX reported robust revenue growth of 27% owing to 34.6% rise in payment processing revenue from Fleet solutions segment on the back of higher domestic fuel prices and volume growth in North American fleet and over-the-road businesses.

Fleetcor Technologies’ 20.9% growth in revenue was due to 14% rise in fleet revenue, driven by increase in transaction volumes and new sales growth and positive impact of the macroeconomic environment.

New entrant, Nuvei registered 16.4% rise in revenue primarily due to organic growth driven by higher e-commerce volume.

Samsung Card reported a dip in revenue triggered by a depreciation in currency value. Cielo’s 4.4% drop in revenue was due to the impact of the sale of MerchantE and M4U. Block (formerly Square) also reported a marginal drop in revenue owing to decline in the market price of bitcoin.

Grandhi concludes: “The recent disruptions in the economic, social, and technological landscape have created promising opportunities for businesses to explore and expand. These disruptions forced companies to explore new channels, enlarge customer reach, and seek new business prospects. In the near future, there can be spurt in niche areas such as social and live commerce, blockchain technology, real-time payments, open banking, adoption of digital currencies, biometric authentication for payment transactions, and the metaverse can emerge as a new commerce platform.”