Fifth Third bets on demand for more complex embedded payments

• Key insights: Fifth Third has invested in embedded finance company Payload. 
• What's at stake: The bank has its own embedded finance unit and is expanding its reach as demand for embedded payments grows. 
• Expert quote: "Within two or three years, banks without scalable modern tech and industry-focused financial services will become invisible."—Datos' Enrico Camerinelli. 

Embedded payments are drawing banks and payment companies that desire the easy experience of a "buy button" that's directly inside of another product. It's a concept that has its roots in consumer apps such as streaming services, e-commerce and ride-sharing, but is also picking up steam for more complicated businesses.

Fifth Third this week made an investment in Payload, an embedded payment firm that has found demand in real estate, and is expanding into other industries that rely on payments that involve multiple parties, such as law firms, property managers, construction companies and franchisers.

The bank did not release the size of the investment, which comes as banks are plotting strategies for embedded payments and amid threats from fintechs.

Fifth Third's play

Fifth Third, which sells embedded payments through its Newline division, did not answer questions about the Payload investment.

In an earlier interview in which she discussed Newline and embedded payments, Bridgit Chayt, executive vice president and head of commercial payments and treasury management at Fifth Third, told American Banker "we have sought to make sure that we are creating value by being in the tech stack of these companies. And you find your ego in a different place there because it's not about having the Fifth Third shield all over it to the end customer. And in fact they rarely even know you're involved, but you're able to participate in that part of the commerce."

Newline is the fastest growing segment in Fifth Third's commercial payments business, which generated more than $1 billion in fee revenue in 2025. The division expects to process more than $25 trillion in payment volume in 2026, compared with the $9 trillion it processed in 2016. 

Newline's clients include Trustly — whose clients include eBay, FanDuel and T-Mobile — and Stripe. 

Fifth Third's clients also include payroll firm ADP.

"Newline remains a key driver of deposit growth driven by its large clients such as Stripe," JPMorgan said in a research note on Fifth Third, noting the bank hopes to increase deposits via Newline by 35% to 50% annually.

Fifth Third is not acquiring Payload. But by making an investment in Payload, Fifth Third is expanding its broader reach in embedded payments by potentially reaching a broader range of businesses. 

Payload was founded in late 2019, processed its first payment in January 2020 and processes transactions at a rate of about $6 billion per year, according to the company. 

"The real estate industry found us during the pandemic, when there were issues with doing real estate transactions in person, whether it be a home seller, title company, brokerage, etc.," Ryan Rybold, CEO of Payload, told American Banker, adding these firms needed a way to quickly send money back and forth by enabling payments directly within their back-end systems.

The real estate industry generally relies on checks and wires for payments. Rybold argues that by embedding a payment button directly into the software of companies, these payments can be made faster and more accurately. 

"These payments require onboarding, [anti-money-laundering compliance], sanctions screening and other tasks that we can do in the background," Rybold said. 

Payload, and by extension Fifth Third, think there are other types of businesses that have similar payment challenges as real estate. Law firms, for example, often accept and make payments to multiple parties involved in the same case or for the same client. "There are a lot of commonalities between these industries," Rybold said. "They tend to have legacy technology stacks and payment rails, but have a need to lean into new payment types such as real-time processing."

Embedded payments and banks

The global embedded payments market will grow by 134% between the end of 2024 and 2028, according to Juniper Research.

And a KPMG survey found 58% of banks said embedded finance is a priority for 2026, with 75% naming open banking, or data-sharing technology that supports embedded payments, as a priority. And 40% of small and midsize merchants said they planned to switch from banks to paytech providers within 12 months, citing faster onboarding and more integrated service delivery, according to Capgemini.

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Embedded finance relates to financial services built into the places where customers already spend time: their shopping apps, work platforms and other everyday software, according to Enrico Camerinelli, strategic advisor at Datos Insights.

"Banks ignoring this shift won't stay relevant." Camerinelli said. "Banks that just hand off their products to other companies while ceding the customer relationship are watching their margins erode." Banks such as U.S. Bank and multiple fintechs, including Green Dot, Marqeta and Brex, have made embedded payments an increased focus. "Within two or three years, banks without scalable modern tech and industry-focused financial services will become invisible," Camerinelli said.