STUART NEAL
TO WIN GLOBAL, THINK LOCAL: Why diverse local payment methods are redefining cross-border commerce By Stuart Neal , CEO at Boku
With over 500 LPMs active around the world, it would be impractical and costly for merchants to connect directly, let alone attempting to manage a bewildering array of ever-changing payments options. That is why seamless access to a network of LPMs is vital to success. By leveraging a global network of pre-vetted localised payments options, merchants can offer the very best payments choice for their customers, territory by territory, opportunity by opportunity. The old days of forcing local consumers to adapt to a top-down global payments hegemony are thankfully coming to an end. Global merchants are succeeding in unlocking new market growth opportunities across the world, knowing that to win global, they have to think local. LPMs are unlocking markets and giving consumers the convenience and cultural familiarity that keeps them coming back. Many LPMs, particularly A2A schemes, being backed by central banks, come with stringent national regulations, signposting the increasing maturity of the LPM market with all that entails; robust consumer and merchant protections, real-time settlement systems, lower cost, and digital identity frameworks. Put simply: faster, cheaper, better. Centralised global payment schemes may be very familiar to merchants, but they also come with challenges: lack of transparency, high fees, consumer inconvenience and exclusionary practices that potentially shut out billions of potential customers. By contrast, LPMs, with their mobile centricity, are evolving far beyond payments, and into vehicles by which people run their lives, offering,
amongst many things, credit, insurance, and wealth-building tools, all tailored to address local needs. LPMs are changing the way consumers buy the goods and services they love, but they’re also creating new expansion opportunities for merchants too. A merchant in Lagos will soon be able to seamlessly accept payments from a customer in Lima, not through a monolithic card network, but via a tapestry of interconnected LPMs. The power of local payments lies in their focus on delivering value to local consumers. If harnessed, this can add huge value to global merchants, looking to grow in new markets, especially if they can network the rapidly growing ecosystem of LPMs.
For years, the payments narrative has been one of consolidation, a race towards universal standards. Global card networks achieved primacy and one-size-fits-all solutions have dominated. But those days are soon to be over. Today, local payment methods (LPMs) – account-to-account payments, direct carrier billing and digital wallets – are no longer deemed ‘alternative’ payments. They are increasingly becoming the global gateway to economic participation. From Brazil’s Pix to India’s UPI, from Kenya’s M-Pesa to the EU’s Wero, LPMs are proving the convenient and accessible way consumers around the world are choosing to transact with merchants. The dominance of global card schemes has obscured the reality that payment preferences are hyper local and deeply cultural. Trust in financial tools is rooted in familiarity, regulatory frameworks, and even societal infrastructure. In Brazil, an estimated 64 billion Pix transactions were processed in 2024 (80 per cent more than the combined total of credit and debit card transactions), its popularity being driven by Pix’s alignment with the way Brazilians like to bank. In India, UPI’s success lies in its simplicity and trust, with the government-backed app turning smartphones into universal payment tools for over 350 million users. The strength of LPMs as a payment category lies in their diversity and ability to suit local payment preferences, allowing global merchants to provide customer experiences that feel native, not imported.
AT A GLANCE
Stuart Neal is an experienced C-level executive with a strong background in fintech and mobile technology. He has held senior roles at VocaLink, Barclaycard, and
Boku, where he served as CFO and later as general manager, leading the sale of its Identity division to Twilio in 2022. Stuart has also worked at Featurespace, VocaLink, GlaxoSmithKline, and Virgin Media. As CEO of Boku, he oversees a global team providing payment solutions, including carrier billing, digital wallets, and account-to-account services. Outside work, he mentors young people through Urban Synergy and chairs the AI company Loopin.
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