What would you build? Seven embedded finance ideas from Money20/20 Europe

Money20/20 Europe, held in Amsterdam in early June, featured the usual mix of bold predictions and buzzword bingo. But between the keynotes and coffee queues, something more valuable was happening. In our meeting suite, away from the exhibition floor bustle, we spent three days in deep conversation with key prospects and existing clients. 

The insights were telling, and the same frustrations surfaced repeatedly. Accountancy software that manages money but never touches it. Travel payments that feel deliberately complex. Healthcare billing that confuses patients more than it helps them.

So we turned the question around. Instead of asking what embedded finance might do, we asked our team what they would build right now, based on the real problems they hear from clients every day. The answers weren't about tomorrow’s possibilities but fixing the frustrations that businesses are dealing with today.

1. When software manages money but doesn't touch it

Marcus Vernon, an Account Executive in the Enterprise Sales team in EMEA, pinpointed something anyone running a business will recognise. Your accountancy software handles invoices, manages supplier bills, and sorts your tax obligations. But what about when you need to pay that invoice, or check if a customer has settled up? You're off to your banking portal, uploading batch files, executing payments one by one.

"The whole process is fragmented," Vernon observes. "If you could collect funds into accounts embedded directly into the software, and handle supplier payments within the same workflow, you'd save time and money while creating a much stickier product."

The opportunity extends well beyond convenience. Add foreign exchange (FX) services and global supplier payments through local rails, and you've opened up new markets. Include card issuing for expense management, and you've built an additional revenue stream. It's a complete rethink of how business finance software could work.

2. Travel payments stuck in the past

Despite explosive growth over the past decade, travel payments remain frustratingly complex. Brian Joseph, Director of Financial Partnerships for Local Payment Providers, sees this as a massive missed opportunity.

"Airlines still rely on legacy systems, dealing with high chargeback risks and excessive processing fees," Joseph says. "These problems should have been solved years ago."

His vision centres on a local payment method orchestration layer that merchants embed directly into their platforms. Book a flight to Brazil and pay via PIX. Settle a hotel bill in Thailand using PromptPay. All seamlessly integrated, without merchants needing to understand the technical complexities.

For businesses, this means faster supplier payments and significant cost savings. For travellers, it means paying through familiar, trusted methods without worrying about whether their card will be accepted.

3. Rethinking how we authenticate

The most forward-thinking idea was arguably from Ciaran O'Malley, Director of Sales for Enterprise in the UK. His concept of delegated financial agents speaks to a fundamental shift in how we interact with money.

Picture this: load funds into a wallet, set preferences for flights, hotels, and event tickets, then delegate purchasing power to an intelligent agent. When Oasis tickets in your price range become available on a day you're free, the agent buys them automatically.

"If tickets go on sale at 3am, I don't want to wake up for fingerprint authentication," O'Malley explains. "Just complete the purchase and move the funds."

His broader point about authentication deserves attention. Current strong customer authentication rules apply the same approach regardless of context. O'Malley argues for nuanced, risk-based authentication: minimal friction for retailers you trust, and tighter controls for unfamiliar merchants with higher fraud rates.

4. The freelancer juggling act

For millions working in the gig economy, financial admin creates genuine stress. Megan Colman, another Account Executive in the Enterprise Sales team, sees this in her daily conversations with potential clients.

Her solution tackles the core problem: a unified dashboard that combines project management, automatic budgeting, invoicing, and tax planning. "Real-time access to earnings just makes sense," Colman explains. "Gig workers find waiting for payments genuinely frustrating. Instant access builds trust and aligns with how people actually live."

This goes beyond smoother workflows. The uncertainty of cash flow and the stress that accompany it are a real burden for freelancers managing multiple projects and calculating quarterly taxes. The right embedded finance solution could eliminate that stress entirely.

5. The identity repetition problem

The response from Immy Spence, VP of Commercial for the UK, tackled one of digital finance's biggest frustrations: a single Know Your Customer (KYC) identity that works across any platform or marketplace.

Anyone who's signed up for multiple financial services knows the routine. Upload the same documents repeatedly, answer identical questions, and wait through the same verification processes. It's inefficient for consumers and expensive for businesses.

Spence also highlighted an overlooked opportunity in traditional banking: automatically investing deposits so money works for customers without requiring any action or tax return complexity. It's exactly the kind of seamless financial management that embedded finance enables.

6. Making healthcare finance human

Healthcare kept surfacing in conversations, and for good reason. As Colman pointed out, the financial side feels deliberately disconnected. Prices aren't transparent, billing processes are confusing rather than clarifying, and patients navigate systems that seem designed to frustrate them.

Embedded finance offers a way forward. Imagine booking a GP appointment where costs are clear upfront, payment flows seamlessly, and insurance claims are processed automatically in the background. The technology exists; it simply needs intelligent application. The frustration is palpable, but so is the opportunity.

7. The infrastructure is ready

The team knows these solutions are within reach. The infrastructure exists, APIs are mature, and demand is obvious from the pain points we heard in Amsterdam and beyond. Take Vernon's insurance example.

While digital transformation has swept through financial services, insurance claims still rely on authorisation codes, phone calls, and paper trails. But this represents an opportunity rather than an obstacle. These legacy processes highlight exactly where embedded finance can make the biggest difference – turning outdated workflows into seamless experiences.

At Airwallex, we're building the future of global business banking by making these embedded finance solutions possible. Our APIs and infrastructure are designed precisely to solve the problems our team identified.

Ultimately, the winners in embedded finance won't be those with the flashiest features. They'll be companies that understand the difference between solving part of a problem and fixing the entire workflow.

Walking away from Amsterdam, one thing felt clear: embedded finance is becoming less about payments and more about orchestration. It's about making complex financial processes feel natural.

That shift in thinking – from financial services as a separate layer to integrated infrastructure – is where the opportunity lies. Companies that grasp this won't simply embed payments, they'll embed possibilities.