The evolution of payments infrastructure across the Americas is redefining how gaming operators scale, compete, and stay compliant in an increasingly complex landscape.
From the rise of real-time payment rails in the US to the adoption of specific local methods across Latin America, the need for seamless, flexible, and intelligent payment strategies keeps growing.
Ahead of SBC Summit Americas 2026, Alexander Rea, CEO and Founder of Fyntek, talks with SBC Americas about the growing importance of payments solutions, the challenges of bridging North and Latin American markets, and why the company has taken a headline sponsorship role at this year’s event.
Why is SBC Summit Americas such an important event for your brand, and what made headline sponsorship the right move for an event that bridges both North and Latin America?
SBC Summit Americas isn’t just another conference—it’s where the future of gaming payments across the Western Hemisphere gets shaped.
For us at Fyntek, this is exactly where we need to be. We sit at the intersection of operators, PSPs, banks, and regulators, and this event uniquely brings all of those stakeholders into one room—across both North and Latin America.
Headline sponsorship was a deliberate move. We’re not a passive participant in this ecosystem—we’re actively building the infrastructure that enables it. Payments orchestration is becoming mission-critical, and we wanted to position Fyntek at the center of that conversation.
Bridging North and Latin America is especially important right now. You’ve got a highly mature, compliance-heavy U.S. market alongside fast-growing, innovation-driven LatAm markets. The real opportunity lies in connecting those worlds—and that’s exactly what our platform is designed to do.
What emerging trends or challenges do you believe will most influence the evolution of the gaming and betting ecosystem across the Americas in the next few years, and how is your company helping clients anticipate and adapt to these shifts?
The biggest shift we’re seeing is the fragmentation of payments—and the increasing complexity that comes with it.
Operators today aren’t just dealing with cards anymore. You’ve got real-time rails like RTP and FedNow in the U.S., PIX in Brazil, push-to-card, digital wallets, and emerging local APMs across Latin America. At the same time, fraud pressures, regulatory scrutiny, and issuer behavior—especially around programs like Visa’s VAMP—are intensifying.
This creates a huge operational challenge. Without orchestration, you’re essentially trying to manage dozens of payment relationships, routing decisions, and risk layers manually. That’s not scalable.
Fyntek solves that by abstracting the complexity. We give operators a single orchestration layer that dynamically routes transactions, optimizes acceptance, manages fraud tooling, and connects into multiple acquiring and payment methods—all in real time.
More importantly, we don’t just provide the technology—we advise on how to use it. Whether it’s preparing a social casino operator for U.S. acquiring, or helping a LatAm fintech enter the U.S. market, we’re actively shaping the payments strategy, not just enabling it.
SBC Summit Americas brings together two markets that differ vastly in regulation, maturity, and player behaviour. How is your company adapting its strategy to navigate these distinctions and deliver meaningful impact across both Latin and North American markets?
You can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach across the Americas—it simply doesn’t work.
In North America, particularly the U.S., success is driven by compliance, underwriting discipline, and strong banking relationships. The bar is extremely high, especially in gaming. Our role there is to make operators “bank-ready”—from fraud controls and KYC to transaction monitoring and routing strategy.
In Latin America, the opportunity is different. It’s about access, localization, and speed. Players expect local payment methods, instant experiences, and high approval rates. Infrastructure is less standardized, so flexibility is key.
Our orchestration layer is what allows us to bridge those two realities. We can localize payment methods and routing strategies market-by-market, while still giving operators centralized control, reporting, and risk management.
Effectively, we’re helping our clients operate globally while behaving locally—and that’s a critical advantage in this space.
What key message or lasting impression do you want attendees to take away about your brand by the end of SBC Summit Americas, and how does your sponsorship help you communicate that vision?
The message is simple: payments are no longer a backend function—they are a growth engine. If you’re not thinking about orchestration, you’re leaving revenue on the table.
We want attendees to walk away understanding that Fyntek isn’t just another gateway or PSP—we’re the layer that sits above all of them, giving operators control, flexibility, and performance across their entire payments stack.
Our sponsorship allows us to amplify that message at scale. It puts us front and center in the conversations that matter—whether that’s with operators scaling across markets, banks evaluating gaming exposure, or fintechs entering the space.
By the end of the event, the goal is that when people think about solving payments complexity in gaming—across any market in the Americas—they think of Fyntek first.
How are regulatory changes across different jurisdictions affecting your approach to payment innovation, and what emerging compliance challenges do you anticipate will shape the industry most significantly?
Regulation isn’t slowing payments innovation—it’s shaping it. In the U.S., we’re seeing tighter control from networks like Visa Inc. and Mastercard, particularly around fraud and dispute thresholds, which means operators need far more control over how transactions are routed and managed. At the same time, in Latin America, innovation is moving quickly with real-time payment systems, but the regulatory landscape is far less consistent.
For us, that means building compliance directly into the orchestration layer. Instead of forcing operators into a fixed setup, we give them the flexibility to adapt in real time—whether that’s adjusting routing, introducing new payment methods, or tightening fraud controls depending on the market.
Looking ahead, the biggest challenges will come from stricter network enforcement, the rise of real-time payments where fraud has to be stopped before it happens, and the growing complexity of operating across multiple jurisdictions. Ultimately, the companies that succeed will be the ones that can stay compliant without sacrificing performance, and that’s exactly what orchestration is designed to solve.
Beyond cryptocurrency adoption, which emerging payment technology do you believe has the greatest potential to transform transaction processes in your markets?
Beyond crypto, the biggest shift we’re seeing is the rise of real-time, account-to-account payments. Rails like RTP and FedNow in the U.S., and instant bank systems across Latin America, are fundamentally changing how money moves—faster settlement, lower costs, and a much smoother user experience.
But the real impact isn’t just speed—it’s control. These rails remove intermediaries, reduce reliance on cards, and give operators more direct access to funds. That’s hugely valuable in gaming, where payouts, liquidity, and user trust are everything.
The challenge, though, is that real-time payments come with real-time risk. There’s no chargeback safety net, so fraud prevention has to happen before the transaction, not after. That’s where orchestration becomes critical. At Fyntek, we’re enabling operators to plug into these rails while layering in the right routing logic, fraud controls, and compliance frameworks to use them safely and effectively.
So while crypto gets a lot of attention, it’s real-time bank payments that will have the most immediate and transformative impact on transaction processes across our market.
As alternative payment methods continue to gain traction, how are you seeing payment preferences evolve in your key market, and what surprises have you encountered?
We’re seeing a clear shift away from a card-dominated world to a much more diverse payment mix. Cards are still critical, especially in the U.S., but alternative methods—real-time bank transfers, wallets, and local APMs—are gaining serious traction because they offer speed, convenience, and often higher acceptance.
What’s interesting is that this isn’t just a regional trend anymore. In the U.S., where cards have always been dominant, we’re now seeing strong demand for instant bank payments and faster payout methods. In Latin America, it’s even more pronounced—local payment methods and real-time rails are often the primary way users transact, not the alternative.
The biggest surprise has been how quickly user expectations have shifted around payouts. It’s no longer enough to offer instant deposits—players expect instant withdrawals as well. That’s putting real pressure on operators to rethink their entire payments strategy, not just the front end.
This is exactly where orchestration comes in. At Fyntek, we’re helping operators adapt to these changing preferences by giving them the flexibility to offer the right mix of payment methods in each market, while optimizing for acceptance, speed, and cost behind the scenes.
