Moshe Kimhi, CEO and Co-Founder of Neema, discussed the latest trends shaping the global payments landscape in a recent Global Fintech Series interview, covering the company's partnership with Mastercard, evolving industry priorities around reliability and interoperability, and the growing influence of artificial intelligence on payment infrastructure.

Mastercard Partnership and Expansion into Israel

Neema's partnership with Mastercard represents a major milestone for the company, reinforcing its long-running effort to build local payments infrastructure that enables global financial institutions to enter the Israeli market quickly and seamlessly. Mastercard Move, the global card network's cross-border payments platform that connects banks, fintechs, and money transfer operators across more than 180 markets, selected Neema as its gateway into Israel, allowing businesses and individuals worldwide to send funds to Israeli bank accounts in real time through Neema's local infrastructure.

"Instead of spending months navigating local technology, integrations, and regulatory complexity, partners can access Israel through a single API," Kimhi said.

Through Neema, partners gain direct connectivity to Israel's payment ecosystem, including MASAV, Israel's national automated clearing house that processes bulk electronic payments across the country's banking system, and all Israeli banks, local account issuance, 24/7 real-time payment processing, and advanced capabilities such as Request to Pay. For end users, this translates into faster and more reliable transfers.

The partnership reflects a broader industry pattern in which global payment networks are partnering with local infrastructure providers to accelerate market entry, rather than building country-by-country integrations from scratch.

Kimhi noted that when a global leader like Mastercard entrusts its expansion into Israel to Neema, it sends a strong signal to the market. Neema already serves as the infrastructure partner behind many international fintechs and financial institutions operating in Israel, and the Mastercard partnership further strengthens its position as the preferred gateway for global players seeking market entry.

Key Trends: Reliability and Interoperability

According to Kimhi, the payments industry is entering a new phase where innovation is no longer solely about moving money faster or cheaper, but about making global payments as reliable and seamless as local ones. He highlighted two trends in particular.

The first is a growing focus on payment reliability. As pricing has become increasingly competitive, businesses are looking beyond cost and asking whether payments will consistently reach their destination on time. This is driving demand for smarter payment infrastructure that can intelligently select the best route for every transaction and maximize success rates across different corridors.

The second is interoperability. The global payments ecosystem has become increasingly fragmented, with different payment rails, banks, wallets, and local payment methods operating across markets. The ability to connect these systems seamlessly is becoming essential for delivering a truly global payment experience. Businesses want to access multiple markets through a single integration, while consumers expect international payments to feel as simple and reliable as domestic ones.

The push for interoperability aligns with wider industry initiatives, including the G20's priority to enhance cross-border payments by addressing cost, speed, transparency, and access gaps that have historically fragmented global money movement.

Kimhi emphasized that the future of cross-border payments will be shaped by infrastructure that makes global money movement as predictable and frictionless as local payments.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence

AI has the potential to transform the payments industry, Kimhi said, particularly in areas such as fraud detection, transaction monitoring, and operational efficiency. AI can analyze enormous amounts of data in real time, helping financial institutions identify suspicious activity faster and respond more effectively.

At the same time, he stressed that payments is an industry built on trust. As companies adopt AI, they need to ensure that decisions remain transparent, explainable, and fully compliant with regulation.

Looking ahead, Kimhi expects AI agents to become more capable of initiating and managing financial transactions on behalf of users. While this creates tremendous opportunities, it also raises the stakes. If AI can autonomously move money, the industry will need even stronger authentication, authorization, and fraud prevention mechanisms to ensure those actions are secure and aligned with the user's intent.

"I believe AI should enhance payment infrastructure rather than replace human oversight," Kimhi said. "The goal is to make payments safer and more reliable, while ensuring security, compliance, and customer trust remain at the heart of every transaction."

Outlook: Convergence of Reliability, Interoperability, and AI

Kimhi predicted that the next few years will not be defined by a single technology, but by the convergence of several trends that make cross-border payments more seamless, intelligent, and reliable. He identified three areas as having the biggest impact: payment reliability, interoperability, and AI.

The industry is already shifting its focus from competing on price to competing on performance, he observed. Businesses want payments that arrive on time, every time, regardless of the corridor. Interoperability between different payment rails, banks, and wallets will become increasingly important as the global payments ecosystem continues to fragment. AI will play a growing role in improving fraud detection, risk management, and operational efficiency.

"Ultimately, the winners will be the companies that can combine these capabilities into a single, intelligent infrastructure that makes global payments feel as seamless and predictable as domestic ones," Kimhi said.

Neema's Mission and Vision

At Neema, the mission has always been to make global payments feel as seamless and reliable as local ones. The company believes that trust is built one successful transaction at a time, so everything it develops is focused on improving the reliability and intelligence behind every payment.

Neema plans to continue investing in technologies that optimize payment performance in real time, expand global connectivity, and remove complexity for its clients. The company's vision is straightforward: regardless of where a payment is sent or how complex the underlying infrastructure is, clients should not have to think about it. They should be able to trust that every payment will reach its destination through the best possible route.

About Neema

Neema created a global payments platform to make sending money across borders faster and accessible to everyone. What began as a digital account helping people send money home has grown into a global cross-border payment platform supporting financial institutions worldwide. Today, the company serves fintechs and EMIs (Electronic Money Institutions), enabling them to move money seamlessly to over 120 countries through a single API. Neema's proprietary Dynamic Routing® technology ensures every transaction finds the best possible route, creating a new standard in the industry.

About Moshe Kimhi

Moshe Kimhi is the CEO and Founder of Neema, a global cross-border payments platform supporting fintechs, digital wallets, and financial institutions worldwide. Under his leadership, Neema has evolved from a consumer digital account into a global payments platform enabling reliable payout corridors across more than 120 destinations.