Power of Payments Awards recognize top payment innovations
The payments industry is in a constant state of evolution, driven by emerging technologies that are transforming the way transactions are initiated, processed, and managed. As businesses and financial institutions adapt to these changes, they are discovering new ways to collaborate and compete. The Tearsheet’s Power of Payments (TPOP) Awards 2026 recognize the companies, products, and individuals that are driving innovation in the payments industry. This year’s winners are leading the way in shaping the future of payments.
TabaPay streamlines money movement with a single integration
TabaPay has been awarded the Payment Technology Provider of the Year Award for its innovative approach to simplifying money movement. By providing a single integration that covers payments, payouts, and risk, TabaPay’s infrastructure is powering companies such as Klarna, SoFi, Dave, ADP, and Current. With a projected processing volume of over $100 billion in 2026, TabaPay is delivering impressive results, including authorization rates of up to 98% for certain account-funding transactions, fraud rates that are roughly half of industry benchmarks, and cost reductions of up to 75%.
A pilot program with Visa and Current resulted in a 153% increase in card attachment rates and a 57% reduction in chargebacks. With over 50% year-over-year growth and eight consecutive years of profitability, TabaPay has established itself as a leader in payment infrastructure, offering a unique combination of scale, performance, and flexibility.
Intuit has won the Best Card Product Award for its innovative approach to business credit cards. By integrating the Intuit Business Credit Card directly into QuickBooks, Intuit has created a seamless financial management system for small businesses. The card connects everyday spending with cash flow, credit, and financial health, eliminating the need for manual effort and providing growing teams with greater visibility and control.
With features such as real-time spending controls, unlimited physical and virtual cards, and individualized limits, the Intuit Business Credit Card is redefining the way small businesses manage their finances. By leveraging business performance data to inform credit decisions, Intuit has made the card an integral part of a broader financial workflow, rather than a standalone payment tool.
Clair introduces earned wages to payroll platforms
Clair has received the Best Payroll Offering Award for its innovative on-demand pay service, which provides employees with access to earned wages in as little as 2.5 minutes, free of charge. Embedded in platforms such as Gusto, QuickBooks, and TriNet, Clair’s service is giving workers greater financial flexibility while helping payroll providers deepen engagement.
With impressive metrics, including 85% month-over-month repeat usage, 89% user satisfaction, and employer opt-out rates as low as 0.1%, Clair is demonstrating the value of embedded payroll benefits. The company’s proprietary Clair Atlas engine uses payroll, attendance, and scheduling data to assess workers’ earnings more accurately. With approximately 500,000 monthly active users across 300,000 businesses and a $100 million annualized revenue run rate as of August 2026, Clair is leading the way in delivering value across the workforce ecosystem.
Nium connects stablecoins to everyday commerce
Nium has won the Most Innovative Payments Award for its new work in connecting stablecoin funding to real-world business payments. Through a single enterprise platform, Nium’s infrastructure brings together USDC funding, cross-border settlement, currency conversion, local payouts, and card issuance across Visa and Mastercard.
This integrated approach reduces the need for separate providers and integrations, making it easier for businesses to use stablecoin balances to fund commercial payments and deliver local currency across over 190 countries and 100 currencies. Partnerships with Coinbase and Circle are extending these capabilities, while a Visa-led pilot is exploring regulated stablecoin settlement seven days a week. By connecting on-chain assets to established payment networks and local rails, Nium is making stablecoins more practical for enterprise payments.
Splitit receives the Best BNPL Provider Award for its card-linked installment platform
The company’s card-linked platform integrates into merchant checkouts, allowing customers to split payments while retaining their card rewards and purchase protections.
The results are impressive, with an 18% average increase in conversion and 25-49% higher average order values on installment transactions.
Payoneer simplifies cross-border operations
Payoneer has earned the Best Cross-Border Payments Offering Award for its innovative platform, which helps businesses manage international payments without the complexity of traditional banking. By providing local receiving accounts and flexible payout options, Payoneer’s platform enables entrepreneurs to receive funds in one currency, pay suppliers or contractors in another, and withdraw in a third. Serving customers in over 190 countries and territories, Payoneer combines multi-currency payments with local collection capabilities and regulatory expertise to help businesses reach new markets. The company’s tools also simplify payment tracking and reconciliation.
