This year’s Money20/20 USA made one thing clear: we’re entering a new era where fintech is no longer separate from financial services — it is financial services.

From AI-driven innovation to embedded finance and real-time money movement, the conversations on the floor revealed where spend management is heading next. As Cardlay’s team met with banks, fintechs, and tech leaders across the industry, three trends stood out.

1. Embedded finance is no longer a buzzword — It’s the backbone

The lines between fintech and financial services have officially blurred. Banks are embracing fintech innovation, startups are integrating with traditional infrastructure, and every player is focused on one thing: embedding financial functionality where customers already are.

In the context of spend management, this means payment, expense, and reconciliation flows are no longer standalone apps — they’re built directly into existing ecosystems: digital banks, fleet platforms, and B2B marketplaces.

This shift favors platforms that can integrate fast and scale securely. With proven white-label frameworks, banks and partners can bring advanced spend capabilities to market in a matter of months — without rebuilding from scratch.

“Embedded finance isn’t a trend anymore. It’s the infrastructure layer that lets every brand offer financial experiences seamlessly — under their own name.”

— Kasper Guul Laursen, Chief Sales Officer, Cardlay

2. The Consumerization of commercial cards

If there’s one consistent message from the show floor, it’s that business users expect the same frictionless experience they get as consumers.

The demand for intuitive, mobile-first, and automated solutions is reshaping how banks and fintechs think about commercial spend.

Corporate users no longer tolerate complex approval flows, delayed insights, or paper-based reconciliations. They want real-time visibility, instant controls, and AI-powered automation that feels as smooth as Apple Pay.

Cardlay’s experience with banks across the globe shows this shift in action: mid-market and enterprise clients are driving adoption of white-label spend platforms that deliver consumer-grade usability — all within their own brand ecosystem.

“The line between consumer and commercial experiences has disappeared. If it’s not seamless with clean mobile first UX, it won’t be used.”

— Kasper Guul Laursen, Chief Sales Officer, Cardlay

3. The future is seamless — no human hands needed

AI was the star of this year’s Money20/20, but what stood out most was how quietly it’s transforming the back end of financial operations.

The industry is moving toward fully autonomous financial workflows — where spend, approvals, compliance checks, and even categorization happen automatically, without manual input.

This is the true promise of AI-driven spend management: real-time, compliant, and invisible. The less human interference needed, the more accurate, secure, and scalable the process becomes.

Cardlay’s own AI innovations, such as our automated AI spend assistant Spencer, demonstrate how automation can eliminate the most time-consuming parts of expense management — from detecting mismatched receipts to pre-filling data fields. 

“The goal isn’t just to make finance faster — it’s to make it disappear into the background, so businesses can focus on growth.”

— Jørgen Christian Juul, Founder & CEO, Cardlay

Looking ahead

From embedded finance to AI automation, the direction is clear: the next generation of spend management will be invisible, intelligent, and deeply integrated.

For banks, fleets, and tech providers, this creates an enormous opportunity — to deliver differentiated financial experiences faster, at lower cost, and under their own brand.

And that’s exactly what Cardlay’s white-label platform is built to enable.

About Cardlay

Cardlay is a white-label spend management platform that enables banks, fleets, and technology partners to launch modern spend solutions — fast, securely, and at scale. With a proven track record of complex integrations, full white-label flexibility, and award-winning UX, Cardlay helps partners unlock new revenue streams from cards and SaaS adoption.