AMSTERDAM, February 9, 2026, 09:27 CET
- Adyen and Uber expanded their payments partnership, rolling out local acquiring and launching physical kiosks in additional markets.
- “Embedded” payments and automated tools are no longer limited to apps—banks and fintechs are weaving them straight into daily workflows.
- Industry watchers say 2026 is shaping up to favor niche players, with AI agents and instant payment rails pushing the shift.
Adyen and Uber are deepening their collaboration, announcing on Monday an expansion that now covers more markets and introduces support for physical kiosks—these let travelers book Uber rides even if they don’t have the Uber app. Adyen, which has handled Uber’s payment infrastructure since 2012 in over 70 countries, said the update includes payment processing in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and various Caribbean regions. The new arrangement also brings local acquiring to Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia, plus fresh payment options like Brazil’s Pix, Afterpay, and WeChat Pay. The first Uber kiosk under this partnership is up and running at LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal C in New York. Uber is planning additional rollouts at hotels, ports, and other international airports. 1
Large platforms are chasing growth by showing up wherever their customers might be—even in an arrivals hall where nobody’s got local data on their phone. Payments, meanwhile, keeps shifting from a behind-the-scenes utility to something central, right up front in the product.
Kiosk booking tackles an obvious hurdle: not everyone has the app, a smartphone, or even a live SIM card—but they still need a ride. Payments companies see it as fresh evidence that the era of universal checkout is fading. The market is shifting toward a patchwork of local payment setups, wired together so smoothly the user almost doesn’t see what’s happening underneath.
Banks are doubling down on the “less friction, more human” message. Toronto-Dominion Bank just launched its “More Human” brand platform, following a 60-second spot that aired in Canada during Sunday’s Super Bowl. “The digital future should also be a human one,” said Tyrrell Schmidt, the bank’s global chief marketing officer. Schmidt also emphasized that “human experiences aren’t obsolete; they’re essential.” 2
The industry’s feeling that same strain. Kurt Roosen, who manages innovation programs at the Isle of Man government’s Finance Agency and writes for Finextra, pointed out this month that broad fintech approaches are running out of road. Investors and regulators are now pushing for better economics and tighter links. “The middle is gone,” Roosen said, echoing the view that banking is shifting into the background, just “something you do, not somewhere you go,” as more services get baked into everyday software. 3
FilmoGaz’s Monday explainer cast the coming two years as a key stretch for embedded finance and so-called “agentic AI”—technology that acts, not just responds—moving in step with the rise of real-time payment systems. The report noted a fresh push of investment toward RegTech, meaning digital compliance tools, and into instant-payment options like on-demand payroll, bill pay, and quicker insurance claim processes. 4
Uber’s kiosk rollout offers a hands-on spin on the concept: integrate financial steps—authentication, payment, receipt—right into the process that addresses a particular need, even if the setup feels a bit retro. On the backend, local acquiring takes a comparable approach, routing card transactions via domestic rails to boost approval rates and trim expenses.
The field is packed, and skipping the “local” layer isn’t really on the table. In Australia, Uber’s integration with Afterpay tightens its connection with Block’s buy-now-pay-later setup. Over on the WeChat side, hooking into WeChat Pay brings Uber into Tencent’s mini app payments world.
Adding more payment methods and channels? That only broadens the attack surface. Kiosks, instant rails, open banking links—they’re magnets for fraudsters. Compliance isn’t static either; rules shift from market to market, sometimes overnight. Even a frictionless user journey can unravel in the mundane spots: an outage, chargebacks piling up, a disputed ride, or suddenly, a regulator demanding extra safeguards right when the product is poised to scale.
Adyen stands to gain more transaction volume and a prominent showcase for its localisation and offline acceptance tools as it deepens its Uber partnership. Uber, on the other hand, may pull in travellers who might otherwise pass by, thanks to kiosks and new payment methods. But as the payments stack quietly grows more complex and specialised, the real challenge will be making it all look effortless for customers.
