An interview with James Fry, Head of Enterprise Product, Worldpay at Money20/20 Europe

Worldpay doesn’t just process transactions, it shapes the infrastructure of global commerce. But how does a payments giant stay agile, compliant, and customer-centric at scale? At Money20/20 Europe, James Fry, who leads enterprise product strategy, offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to keep the world’s largest merchants moving.

From stablecoin settlement pilots to AI-powered auth optimization, Fry revealed a clear north star: build the most adaptive, reliable, and context-aware payments stack on the planet—without losing sight of what customers actually need.

Operating in 70+ markets (45 through direct licenses), Worldpay’s global strength is grounded in nuance. In markets like South Korea where regulatory barriers prevent foreign acquirers from entering Worldpay partners with dominant local players, ensuring clients get the same consistency regardless of geography.

That includes:

Behind every integration is a regulatory task force ensuring the operation is above board, no matter how complex the market.

While generative AI grabs headlines, Fry points out that AI in payments has long been in use particularly in fraud prevention.

But the next frontier is auth optimization, real-time decisioning, and predictive performance tuning:

Worldpay’s recent acquisition of Ravelin, an AI-powered fraud and risk platform, strengthens that push. Ravelin’s data science team will help Worldpay harness its $2T+ in annual processing data to refine everything from acceptance rates to stablecoin usage scenarios.

Emerging markets are opening space for non-traditional flows. Worldpay recently partnered with BBNK to explore stablecoin remittance rails allowing merchants to receive funds faster in regions where traditional clearing is slow or unreliable.

It’s early days, but Fry sees stablecoins as a viable complement to fiat settlement, not a replacement.

True omnichannel commerce is no longer aspirational; it’s table stakes. Fry notes a growing number of enterprises expect:

For Worldpay, this means ensuring that every experience, card present or not, is backed by the same intelligence, security, and uptime. “Cash liquidity still rules. If you can’t settle fast and flexibly, you’re out of the game.”

Fry emphasizes one core principle: customer co-creation. Product roadmaps are shaped not in isolation, but through real merchant feedback loops. “If we can bring customers into the envisioning phase, they shape the product, become pilot users, and ultimately advocate for it.”

From NPS surveys to direct feedback in planning sprints, Worldpay’s teams are embedded with customers at every stage of the build process.

Fry is clear-eyed about the impact of tools like GitHub Copilot and LLM-based dev accelerators. They won’t replace engineers but they will shift how time is spent. “The dev doesn’t go away. But their time gets reallocated from typing to solving.”

By automating repetitive work, these tools allow engineers to focus more on customer outcomes, integration context, and performance testing.

Whether it’s payments, people, or product development, Fry’s mantra is consistency through context. His advice for navigating enterprise fintech? “You’ll never know everything. So be curious. Lean in. Ask questions. Use your network. That’s how you solve for global complexity.”

In a sector driven by margin, scale, and regulation, that mindset might be Worldpay’s biggest differentiator of all.

Not affiliated with Money20/20

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