FIS: Payments Sector Needs New Way of Thinking

FIS FinTech platform Atelio arose from innovative thinking around embedded finance, FIS EVP and Chief Business Officer Roy Ng writes in a new PYMNTS eBook, “The Innovation Mindset: How to Achieve It in 2025.”

The world has fundamentally changed, and it’s not returning to business as usual. At FIS, we embrace this moment of transformation as an opportunity to innovate, rethink conventional norms and champion growth for ourselves and our customers.

Moving From ‘No, Because …’ to ‘Yes, And…’ Internally

At FIS, we’re fostering a culture that thrives on curiosity, collaboration and a bias toward action. Historically, companies may default to “no, because …” for understandable reasons: risk management, legacy systems or operational constraints. But in a rapidly changing landscape, this mindset limits progress. To counter this, we’re driving a “yes, and …” approach across many of our teams by encouraging creative problem-solving, open dialogue and a willingness to experiment.

For instance, in our Platform and Enterprise Products business, we intentionally encourage teams to challenge the status quo. Teams are asked to think beyond “what is” and imagine “what could be.” We’re embedding this mindset into our culture — empowering our leaders and teams to adopt a forward-thinking, action-oriented lens in every decision.

Driving ‘Yes, And …’ for Our Customers

For our customers — from FinTech disruptors to global banks — our mission is to accelerate their journey toward innovation. We’re not just solving today’s challenges; we’re building solutions for tomorrow’s opportunities.

Take embedded finance, for example. Traditional financial models have been constrained by legacy thinking. At FIS, we asked, “What if financial services can be seamlessly, and securely, embedded into the everyday lives of consumers and businesses?” Our response was the launch of our FinTech platform — Atelio. Atelio enables brands and enterprises to offer payments, cards and banking solutions directly to their customers. This empowers businesses to say “yes” to innovation, unlocking new revenue streams while providing their customers with frictionless, value-added experiences.

In the fraud prevention space, we asked, “What if technology could detect and prevent fraud in real time without impacting the user experience?” Our solutions leverage big data, data science and AI-driven analytics to identify anomalies and risks proactively. This approach transforms customer trust and confidence, particularly in today’s increasingly digitized payments ecosystem.

Asking ‘What If …’ and Following Through

We’ve learned that asking “what if …” isn’t enough; follow-through is critical. By balancing innovation with execution, we’ve discovered ways to accelerate product launches, reduce costs, and build best-in-class solutions — without compromising on security, performance or trust.

A New Mindset for the Future

The payments and banking industry doesn’t just need new technologies — it needs a new way of thinking. A “yes, and…” mindset encourages us to see possibilities where others see roadblocks.

One mantra that I’ve shared many times with my teams is from one of my favorite books – “The Hard Thing About Hard Things,” by Ben Horowitz: “Focus on the road, and not the wall.”

Horowitz writes: “When someone learns to drive a race car, one of the first lessons taught is when you are going around a curve at 200 mph, do not focus on the wall; focus on the road. If you focus on the wall, you will drive right into it. If you focus on the road, you will follow the road.” He likens this to running a company, saying, “There are always a thousand things that can go wrong and sink the ship. If you focus too much on them, you will drive yourself nuts and likely crash your company. Focus on where you are going rather than on what you hope to avoid.”

Focus is the prerequisite to building what’s next.