What progress in payments looks like: The Power of Payments Awards 2026

The payments industry rarely stands still. New technologies are changing how transactions are initiated and processed, businesses are rethinking how they accept and manage payments, and financial institutions are finding new ways to compete and collaborate. But innovation matters most when it solves a real world problem, improves an experience, or changes what the industry can deliver.

Tearsheet’s Power of Payments (TPOP) Awards 2026 celebrate the companies, products, and people putting that progress into practice. Meet this year’s winners.

2026 Winners of the Power of Payments Awards

1. Payment Technology Provider of the Year: TabaPay

TabaPay earns the Payment Technology Provider of the Year Award for making money movement simpler through a single integration covering payments, payouts, and risk. Its infrastructure powers firms like Klarna, SoFi, Dave, ADP, and Current, and is on track to process more than $100 billion in 2026. TabaPay delivers authorization rates as high as 98% for certain account-funding transactions, fraud rates roughly half industry benchmarks, and cost reductions of up to 75%. A Current pilot with Visa increased card attachment rates by 153% and reduced chargebacks by 57%. With more than 50% year-over-year growth and eight consecutive years of profitability, TabaPay has built payment infrastructure that combines scale, performance, and flexibility.

2. Best Card Product: Intuit

Intuit wins the Best Card Product Award for turning a business credit card into part of the financial management system small businesses already use. The Intuit Business Credit Card lives natively inside QuickBooks, connecting everyday spending with cash flow, credit, and financial health rather than operating as a standalone payment tool. Receipts are automatically matched to transactions, eliminating manual effort, while real-time spending controls, unlimited physical and virtual cards, and individualized limits give growing teams more visibility. By connecting spending data directly to QuickBooks and using business performance data to inform credit decisions, Intuit has made the card part of a broader financial workflow rather than another disconnected business expense tool.

3. Best Payroll Offering: Clair

Clair receives the Best Payroll Offering Award for making earned-wage access a practical workplace benefit without adding cost or complexity for employers. Embedded in platforms like Gusto, QuickBooks, and TriNet, its on-demand pay service lets employees access earned wages in as fast as 2.5 minutes, free by default. The offering gives workers greater financial flexibility while helping payroll providers deepen engagement. Clair reports 85% month-over-month repeat usage, 89% user satisfaction, and employer opt-out rates as low as 0.1%. Its proprietary Clair Atlas engine uses payroll, attendance, and scheduling data to assess workers’ earnings more accurately. With approximately 500,000 monthly active users across 300,000 businesses and a $100 million annualized revenue run rate as of August 2026, Clair is showing how embedded payroll benefits can deliver value across the workforce ecosystem.

4. Most Innovative Payments: Nium

Nium takes home the Most Innovative Payments Award for connecting stablecoin funding to real-world business payments through a single enterprise platform. Its infrastructure brings together USDC funding, cross-border settlement, currency conversion, local payouts, and card issuance across Visa and Mastercard, reducing the need for separate providers and integrations. Businesses can use stablecoin balances to fund commercial payments and deliver local currency across more than 190 countries and 100 currencies. Partnerships with Coinbase and Circle extend these capabilities, while a Visa-led pilot explores regulated stablecoin settlement seven days a week. By connecting on-chain assets to established payment networks and local rails, Nium is making stablecoins more practical for enterprise payments.

5. Best BNPL Provider: Splitit

Splitit receives the Best BNPL Provider Award for making installments available through shoppers’ existing credit cards, without a new loan or hard credit check. Its card-linked platform integrates into merchant checkouts, letting customers split payments while retaining their card rewards and purchase protections. With approval rates above 85%, Splitit helps merchants offer flexible payments without installment default risk or surrendering their checkout to a third-party lender. Merchant results include an 18% average increase in conversion and 25-49% higher average order values on installment transactions. The infrastructure also extends to banks. Splitit’s embedded installments platform uses existing card rails, enabling issuers to offer installments directly on their credit cards through a merchant network spanning e-commerce, in-store, and digital commerce. Building on its existing credit relationships, Splitit helps issuers compete in Buy Now, Pay Later with infrastructure proven at scale.

6. Best Cross-border Payments Offering (B2C or B2B): Payoneer

Payoneer earns the Best Cross-Border Payments Offering Award for helping businesses manage international payments without the complexity of traditional banking. Its platform lets entrepreneurs receive funds in one currency, pay suppliers or contractors in another, and withdraw in a third, with local receiving accounts and flexible payout options. Serving customers in more than 190 countries and territories, Payoneer combines multi-currency payments with local collection capabilities and regulatory expertise to help businesses reach new markets. Its tools also simplify payment tracking and reconciliation. Payoneer is also investing in stablecoin capabilities and working toward offering stablecoin wallet functionality to customers, extending its cross-border infrastructure toward always-on digital payments. By bringing cross-border collections, currency management, and payouts into one platform, Payoneer simplifies the financial operations behind international growth.