Jay Dearborn, president of Corporate Payments at WEX described embedded payments maturity as a three-stage journey: enablement, customer value creation and monetization. Stage 3 is about turning embedded payments into a profit center. That’s where Dearborn said he sees the biggest gap and the biggest opportunity. “It almost takes someone to bring payments expertise onto the leadership team,” he said. Software companies are good at building great products, but payments is a domain business. Without deep expertise — or the right partner — the monetization piece rarely materializes, he said. That monetization comes in several forms. Dearborn said to start with participating in card economics, which means taking a slice of the acquiring fee, issuing virtual cards or receiving rebates through ACH+ networks. Next is participating in the funds flow itself. Companies that sit inside the accounts payable process, route payments and control disbursements aren’t just facilitators. They’re operators, and operators get paid. Then comes network monetization. Software platforms don’t just process payments; they connect buyers and sellers. That connection creates a closed-loop network that can be optimized, priced and monetized — without ever touching the payment itself, he said. That’s not the only monetizable layer. Speed matters too. Instant access to funds — on either side of a transaction — creates tangible value. Buyers are more likely to pay early. Sellers get paid faster. That value can be priced, packaged and monetized. “You can build an ecosystem around that account, that payment credential,” Dearborn said. “That’s the next unlock.” Embedded payments are table stakes, he said. Embedding them well and building a business around them is still a competitive edge.