Nexi Unveils ‘Nexi Ready’ as Europe Embrace ‘Buy’ Model
•February 20, 2026
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Why It Matters
Nexi Ready reduces compliance costs and accelerates product launches, giving smaller European issuers a viable path to compete with larger players and to prepare for emerging Digital Euro and AI‑driven commerce models.
Key Takeaways
- •Nexi Ready offers plug‑and‑play issuing for banks.
- •Outsources tech, compliance, operations while retaining brand.
- •Addresses PSD3, PSR, AI Act regulatory pressures.
- •Enables faster market entry and portfolio growth.
- •Positions banks for Digital Euro integration.
Pulse Analysis
Europe’s payments ecosystem is at a crossroads, with regulators tightening rules and new technologies reshaping consumer expectations. Traditional issuers that once built and maintained every layer of the card‑issuing stack now face mounting costs to stay compliant with PSD3, the Payment Services Regulation and the EU’s AI Act. Managed‑service models like Nexi Ready provide a pragmatic answer, allowing institutions to offload the heavy technical and regulatory lift while preserving brand equity and direct customer relationships.
Nexi Ready’s architecture is deliberately modular, designed to plug into existing banking infrastructures and to scale across a spectrum of issuers—from large incumbents to mid‑tier banks lacking deep tech resources. By handling scheme integration, fraud monitoring and regulatory reporting, the platform frees up capital for innovation in user experience and new product lines. Its forward‑looking stance on the Digital Euro and agentic commerce means partners can adopt emerging payment methods without rebuilding core systems, a critical advantage as central banks and digital identity frameworks evolve.
The launch signals a broader shift toward a “buy” rather than “make” mentality in European issuing. As more banks seek speed and agility, managed issuing services could become a de‑facto standard, reshaping competitive dynamics and accelerating consolidation among PayTech providers. Early adopters, like the German institution already operating at scale, will likely see improved portfolio performance and faster rollout of value‑added services, setting a benchmark for the rest of the market. This trend underscores the strategic importance of partnering with specialist infrastructure firms to navigate regulatory complexity and capture next‑generation payment opportunities.
Nexi unveils ‘Nexi Ready’ as Europe embrace ‘Buy’ model
Nexi Group has launched Nexi Ready, a fully managed digital issuing proposition designed to help banks, corporates and fintechs accelerate product deployment without building and maintaining their own payments infrastructure.
Nexi unveils ‘Nexi Ready’
The Milan-based PayTech is positioning the offer as a new category in European issuing: plug-and-play, end-to-end managed services that remove operational and regulatory friction while preserving brand and customer ownership.
The move reflects a broader structural shift in Europe’s payments landscape.
Issuers are contending with intensifying regulatory demands, including the forthcoming Third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) and the EU’s AI Act.
At the same time, competitive pressures are mounting from account-to-account models and AI-driven commerce, forcing traditional players to modernise at speed.
From ‘Make’ to ‘Buy’: A Structural Shift in Issuing
Historically, many European banks have operated the full issuing stack in-house.
However, escalating compliance costs and technology complexity are constraining investment in customer experience and innovation.
Christian Segersven, Chief Business Officer for Issuing Solutions at Nexi Group, argues that operational and regulatory burdens are increasingly absorbing issuer budgets, leaving limited capacity for growth initiatives.
Nexi Ready is designed to address this imbalance.
Under the model, Nexi assumes responsibility for technology, scheme compliance, regulatory alignment and day-to-day operations.
Partner institutions retain control of branding, customer relationships and data transparency, while outsourcing the heavy lifting of infrastructure management.
The proposition builds on Nexi’s existing issuing footprint, which serves more than 100 banks globally and supports millions of cardholders.
By industrialising its capabilities into a standardised, scalable platform, Nexi aims to deliver faster time-to-market and improved portfolio performance for institutions of varying scale.
Future-Proofing for Digital Euro and Agentic Commerce
A notable feature of Nexi Ready is its forward-looking architecture.
The company has emphasised preparedness for emerging models, including agentic commerce enablement and potential Digital Euro integration.
As European policymakers debate the shape of central bank digital currency and digital identity frameworks, issuers face uncertainty over future infrastructure requirements.
By externalising these complexities to a specialist provider, smaller and mid-tier banks in particular may gain access to capabilities that would otherwise be capital-intensive to develop internally.
Nexi confirmed that its first international customer, launched in Germany in October 2025, is already operating at scale.
In an environment defined by regulatory expansion and technological acceleration, Nexi Ready signals a decisive tilt towards managed issuing models — and a redefinition of what competitive agility looks like in European payments.
The post Nexi unveils ‘Nexi Ready’ as Europe embrace ‘Buy’ model appeared first on Payments Industry Intelligence.
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