Global Looks to Its Genius POS Platform for Near-Term Growth – Digital Transactions

Global Payments Inc.’s top management early Thursday reported broad plans for its crucial Genius point-of-sale system while outlining its near-term approach to such critical technologies as artificial intelligence and its close relative, agentic commerce.

The Genius technology, launched in the spring of last year, has now grown into “the flagship offering” for Global’s small and medium-size merchant clients, Cameron Bready, Global’s chief executive, told equity analysts during a call held to discuss his company’s third-quarter results. At the same time, Atlanta-based Global began rolling out the technology to banks, starting with financial institutions served by Worldpay, a massive processor Global acquired in January from FIS Inc. As part of that deal, FIS acquired Global’s issuing unit.

“We’re very happy with Genius. Our goal now is to find better ways to get better penetration in the market in both the United States and abroad,” Bready said, pointing out Worldpay’s crucial role in that plan. But other players are also on Global’s dance card. “As we get into 2027, we expect to drive momentum behind Genius,” Bready said. Here, independent sales organizations and other such agents will play a critical role. “That’s the next opportunity,” Bready said. The number of merchant locations using Genius has grown 65% compared to this time last year, reported Josh Whipple, Global’s chief financial officer, without giving the total.

While managing the rollout of Genius, the company’s management has also noted the emergence and growth of agentic commerce. But Global will play that card cautiously, Bready said. “It’s an exciting new channel for commerce. Our approach is to be sure agentic protocols are developed,” he noted. “There has to be trust in how transactions are effectuated [while] protecting merchants and consumers.”

For now, Global is focused on developing what Bready called “on-ramps to participate in agentic commerce.” Here, he said, small and medium-size merchants present an opportunity for Global without the merchants having to make “a big investment.” In agentic commerce, bits of code called “agents” sail through the Internet looking for products on behalf of consumers. The agents can also be authorized to pay for these products, using the consumer’s card details.

Overall, said Bready, “across our business, AI is an enabler of everything we do. We’re now piloting AI in multiple-lane drive-throughs, and we’re leveraging AI in how we operate, for example, in identifying interchange savings [for merchants]. We expect AI to become an increasingly important driver of productivity.”

For the quarter, Global reported $3.18 billion in adjusted net revenue, up 31% year-over-year. Some $1.55 billion of that intake came from small and medium-size merchants. The company posted $9.2 billion in revenue for the year through September, up 31.5%. Adjusted operating income for the quarter totaled $1.35 billion, up 24%. For the nine months, that total was $3.82 billion, a 24% increase.