The payments industry came together to celebrate a year of innovation, achievement and shared success as the 2026 Payments Awards recognised the companies and individuals shaping the future of the sector.

Bringing together leading names from across the payments ecosystem, the annual ceremony celebrated excellence across digital transactions, merchant services, financial infrastructure, fraud prevention and emerging technologies, highlighting the work being done to improve how businesses and consumers pay.

The event was supported by sponsors Kani Payments, Moorwand and Tag Systems, whose backing helped bring together the industry to recognise the organisations and individuals driving progress across the sector.

Worldline was among the evening's standout winners, securing three awards: Customer Experience Innovation Award, AI-Driven Fraud Prevention Platform of the Year, and Account-to-Account & Real-Time Payments Innovation. Littlepay also claimed three honours, winning Merchant Anti-Fraud Solution of the Year, Payments Innovation of the Year and Payment Technology Provider of the Year in the SME category.

Paynetics collected two awards, sharing the Best Digital Payments Solution Consumer title with Trading212 and winning the Embedded Finance and Open Banking Award. Thunes also secured two accolades, taking home FX & Liquidity Innovation in Payments and the Card & Network Innovation Award alongside Thredd, Zilch and Visa.

Other winners included Form3, which received B2B Payments Innovation of the Year, while Ecommpay was named Best Merchant Acquirer or Processor. Prommt won Best Online Payments Solution Merchant, and Verifone Victa took the Best In-store Payments Solution title.

The awards also recognised individual contributions to the industry. Monica Eaton of Chargebacks911 received the Women in PayTech Award, while Sheryll Ricketts of Littlepay was named the recipient of the Payments Leadership Award.

Now in its 15th year, the Payments Awards are organised by FStech and Retail Systems, recognising companies that have demonstrated excellence and innovation across the payments landscape.

This year's ceremony was hosted by comedian, actor and presenter Marcus Brigstocke. A familiar face across British television and radio, Brigstocke has appeared on programmes including Have I Got News for You, QI and Live at the Apollo, and was a long-standing contributor to BBC Radio 4's The Now Show.

Jonathan Easton, group editor at Retail Systems and FStech, said: “Congratulations to all this year's winners. The payments industry continues to evolve at pace, and the breadth of innovation recognised this year demonstrates the important role technology providers are playing in shaping the future of payments.”

Read the full list of winners from the 2026 Payments Awards here.

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