In fintech's short history, attention has always flowed to the interface — the app, the wallet, the checkout screen where a customer taps "pay." But the companies capturing the most durable value are the ones the customer never sees. They own no app icons and no end-user relationships. They sit one layer below, providing the rails, licenses, and decision engines that everything visible runs on top of. They are the picks and shovels — and increasingly, they are what acquirers

Embedded Finance is the next big disruption in financial technology services and, more than everything, is the present and future of...