This is the third part of a four-part series on fintech and HR by author Pete Tiliakos. Part 1 discusses how fintech can help with early access to earned wages; Part 2 looks at how fintech can become a hidden talent enabler.
In global payroll, the market has moved beyond the traditional processing services toward a platform approach for automated processing, instant payments, funding, FX, digital wallets, pay modality and money movement. With payroll commonly the largest line item on most P&Ls, it’s quickly becoming a liquidity strategy for global enterprises.
Buyers are no longer asking providers to calculate payroll in a country. They’re increasingly asking whether that vendor can orchestrate the full pay obligation across worker data, compliance, approvals, funding, FX, payments, statutory remittance, employee visibility and reconciliation. All of which requires a very different infrastructure, and why global payroll providers are beginning to lean on and look more like fintech than legacy global payroll solutions.
Payroll is essentially becoming unbundled, split into layers, enabled by tech and repackaged by solution providers, increasing the value of capturing this opportunity.
The calculation layer, compliance layer, funding layer, treasury layer, payment rails, payout destination, employee experience, income data layer, wallet, rewards and bank relationship are no longer automatically bundled into one linear journey. They are becoming separate market opportunities with different niche providers competing to own each layer in the stack, and the employer is increasingly positioned as the gateway to the most important financial event in an employee’s life: getting paid for their work.
Global payroll and EOR (Employer of Record) providers like Papaya Global hope to own it all, betting big on consolidating more of the payroll delivery chain into a single platform experience for end-to-end compliant support for a hire-to-payment operating stack. Papaya Global also bet massively as an early mover on global payments, investing in the infrastructure and positioning around a one-stop shop for all things global employment and payments. It supports workforce payments across 180-plus countries, through its proprietary Papaya Global Workforce OS, Contingent OS, Payments OS and OnePay solutions as part of its broader orchestration model.
Global EOR Multiplier announced its strategic direction, North Star and path to enabling a “Global Exchange for Work.” Essentially, the infrastructure where the key elements of global employment converge: countries, companies and talent to transact, similarly to a stock exchange. Underpinning Multiplier’s strategy is global employment, compliance and payments infrastructure with 150 owned legal entities globally, localized gross-to-net calc engines, a compliance intelligence engine and dynamic API’s.
It is also bringing global payments in-house, owning the orchestration and underlying rails and pursuing a money movers license. Aside from its compliance intelligence engine and expanded embedded payroll and EOR capabilities, one of Multiplier’s other big bets is workforce treasury with a roadmap that aims to bring to market a workforce wallet, stablecoins tied to USD, payroll forecasting, an FX optimization engine and treasury intelligence.
Payoneer, Revolut also entering the SMB payroll/paycheck space
Global payments providers like Payoneer and Revolut are coming after SMB payroll and the paycheck all the same but from a different direction.
Already thriving on the payments side, Payoneer scooped up two global EOR providers: Singapore-based SKAUD and Ireland-based Boundless, pairing its payments capabilities and rails with two global payroll and employer of record specialists. Revolut turned on payroll and EOR for the U.K., targeting its more than 800k customers, again pairing a well-adopted consumer and SMB offering with proven payments infrastructure, worker-targeted payments and compliance services where its customers already move money.
In case you haven’t noticed, Walmart has also quietly entered the fintech + HR tech game. Back in 2022, Walmart and Ribbit Capital teamed up for a start-up called Hazel to build financial services for Walmart associates and customers. Shortly after, Hazel merged with EWA provider Even, and quickly paired that with ONE, a digital banking platform it also acquired around the same time. The goal was and remains to build out an all-in-one app to support both its millions of consumers that shop at its stores weekly and its 2.1 million associates that run them. The solution now operates under the OnePay banner with OnePay@Work now a certified Workday Wellness partner and targeting large enterprise employers with the solution it launched to support its own workforce wellness challenges.
A deeper look at the consumer side where work, money and life intersect
Stablecoins are now moving from crypto-native adoption into mainstream payments infrastructure. Visa just launched USDC stablecoin settlement in the U.S. and reported more than $3.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume at launch.
Deel announced that companies holding its stablecoin, USDC, can fund payroll and payments through Coinbase, with contractors able to withdraw funds in more than 150 currencies, including crypto payouts. That same week, Deel announced the Deel Stablecoin Wallet—a dollar-backed balance embedded in Deel where contractors can hold wages in stable currency, earn rewards and spend through the Deel Card. It’s launching in Argentina first, expanding across Latam, with APAC, the Middle East and Africa up next.
This is further signaling that global workforce platforms increasingly see payroll funding, contractor payouts, currency flexibility and digital money movement as part of the broader employment operating model.
Stablecoins are huge for payroll because they can help companies move money (and payroll) faster and more efficiently, especially across borders. Today, MNCs operating globally often require companies to pre-fund accounts in different countries, currencies, banks and payroll partners days before payday. That can leave cash sitting idle, create FX timing issues and make last-minute payroll changes hard to manage.
A stablecoin or digital dollar can move 24×7, 365 days a year, instead of waiting on bank cutoffs, intermediaries or local banking timing. A company or payroll provider can now move funds quickly to where they are needed, convert them into local currency or pay workers through approved payout options. This is especially useful for contractor payments, emergency off-cycle payroll, compliance requirements, countries with unstable currencies or that are difficult to fund, or globally distributed workers, offering organizations a faster liquidity and settlement rail that provides the infrastructure for real-time payroll and workforce payments.
Part four continues with a look at the employee-consumer experience, where this convergence is heading and my advice to HR leaders.
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