Over nearly two decades in the payments and technology space, I’ve worn many hats - engineer, product manager, solution architect, consultant, and now Head of Sales & Solutions at MoneyHash. Across this journey, whether I was optimizing cloud systems or building enterprise-grade payment infrastructures, one insight has consistently held true: the payments landscape moves fast, but the businesses that thrive are those that can adapt even faster.

At MoneyHash, we work closely with businesses across emerging markets particularly in the Middle East and Africa to help them navigate one of the most dynamic and fragmented payment ecosystems in the world. And while much of the conversation around payment orchestration tends to focus on merchants, I want to shift the lens in this piece. Because for PSPs, orchestration isn’t competition, it’s an accelerant.

Why PSPs Still Matter More Than Ever

Let me start with this: PSPs are here to stay. They emerged because traditional banks were too slow and too rigid to meet the evolving needs of digital commerce. That gap hasn’t closed and it likely won’t anytime soon. The market still needs PSPs to:

• Facilitate onboarding

• Drive innovation in acceptance

• Manage regulatory complexity

Some PSPs will evolve into full-stack providers, others will remain agile, focused enablers. But either path requires PSPs to adapt and expand their role. That’s where orchestration plays a transformative role.

Orchestration Unlocks Faster Value for PSPs

Traditionally, it can take months, sometimes three or more, for a PSP to go live with a merchant and start seeing transaction volume. That’s a long sales and onboarding cycle.

Orchestration changes that. At MoneyHash, we help merchants connect to PSPs within days, not months. This means PSPs start realizing traffic and revenue far faster. So as you can see we’re not replacing the PSP’s value, we’re just accelerating it.

Reducing Support Load, Increasing Efficiency

One of the hidden operational costs for PSPs is support. Tickets, escalations, troubleshooting, it adds up. Through our orchestration layer, we act as a first line of support. We filter merchant requests, triage them, and only escalate qualified issues to PSPs.

This improves ticket quality, reduces noise, and allows PSPs to focus on performance, the most important part of it all. In fact, in some cases, we’ve seen support load reduced by up to 65%.

To summarize, we support PSPs in three critical ways:

1. Faster Value Realization – PSPs begin seeing traffic and value very soon after integration, significantly reducing the go-live cycle.

2. Operational Efficiency – We limit support requests by filtering and qualifying them, so PSPs only receive what matters.

3. Enhanced Offering – We empower PSPs to serve broader merchant needs by complementing their systems with additional payment methods. For example, if a PSP only supports cards, merchants can still use that PSP while accessing APMs through MoneyHash. It’s an extension, not a replacement.

Complementing Your Stack, Not Replacing It

Some PSPs worry that orchestration makes it easier for merchants to leave. That’s a valid concern but it’s only part of the story. Orchestration also makes it easier for merchants to stay when their needs grow.

For example:

• PSPs that support only cards can still retain merchants who need APMs

• Merchants can layer on new methods without changing core providers

• PSPs can enter new markets faster without heavy dev work or custom builds

Here’s a perspective I always share:

I see it as a big opportunity. Most PSPs in the market only own 5 to 10% of the market, so instead of being worried about the 5% you might lose, go after the 95% you don’t have.

In other words, orchestration isn’t a backdoor for churn, it’s a front door to growth. The flexibility it provides gives PSPs access to merchants they couldn’t reach before, verticals they couldn’t serve, and geographies they couldn’t cover.

Data-Driven Routing that Works for You, Too

Our orchestration engine uses AI to enable smart routing across multiple providers. And this benefits everyone not just merchants. Not all transactions are the same, so there are a lot of factors we need to think about for one transaction to be accepted.

For example:

• Is it a local card or an international one?

• Where did the transaction originate?

• Are we using a co-branded card? A corporate card?

• Does the card carry a local scheme or a global one?

• Is the issuing bank also the acquiring bank?

These details impact both the acceptance rate and the cost of each transaction. Our AI-powered engine routes traffic to the provider most likely to approve the transaction and to do it cost-effectively. The result? Higher approval rates and optimized revenue for PSPs.

Smarter Fraud Prevention, Seamless Integration

Many PSPs build fraud tools in-house or license them from third parties which are powerful. But each PSP applies their own rules, creating fragmented defences for merchants using multiple providers.

Our approach is different. We partner with specialized fraud management platforms, tailored by industry. These tools are integrated directly into our orchestration layer and can pre-screen transactions before they ever reach the PSP, reducing exposure and false positives.

This approach doesn’t replace PSP fraud tools, it strengthens them. And when merchants trust the transaction quality, they send more volume.

PSPs as Strategic Advisors

As orchestration becomes more common, the most successful PSPs will evolve from vendors into strategic consultants. We’re not here to replace what PSPs already do well, we’re here to strengthen it. Think of orchestration as a flexible layer that helps you scale faster and smarter, without having to rebuild from scratch. With this extra firepower, PSPs can:

• Access additional services like scheme tokenization, MasterCard installments, and card BIN lookups

• Offer alternate payment methods (APMs) such as wallets, BNPL, and mobile money

• Extend geographical reach into new countries through pre-integrated rails

You don’t need to operate in Asia to help a merchant expand there. You just need to know who can support them and work with orchestration platforms like ours to make it happen. So the real question is, “are you ready to become the partner your merchants can’t scale without?”

Final Thoughts

Orchestration isn’t a threat to PSPs, it’s a partner to your growth. It helps reduce costs, shorten integration cycles, expand your feature set, and improve merchant retention.

Whether you're looking to reduce operational load, expand your service offering, or tap into new regions without heavy lifting, orchestration gives you the tools to do more without doing it all alone. It's not just about efficiency, it's about staying competitive, relevant, and indispensable to your merchants.

If you're a PSP thinking about how to stay ahead of the curve, this is your moment to plug in, collaborate, and scale smarter not solo.

We're already working with PSPs across the region to turn flexibility into opportunity, and we’d love to explore what that could look like with you. Start here—and let’s see what we can build together.

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Mohamed Amir is Head of Sales & Solutions at MoneyHash. With nearly two decades of experience across product, technology, and payments, he helps businesses across MENA unlock revenue through strategic payment innovation.