Visa has emerged as the leader in the AI maturity of the global payments industry, according to a new index from Evident, a firm that tracks artificial intelligence adoption in finance. The ranking, released exclusively to Business Insider, places Visa at the top among 12 major payments companies, followed by Mastercard and PayPal in second and third. Fintech leaders Stripe and Block rank fifth and sixth, highlighting how quickly newer players have built strong AI capabilities. The index evaluates companies across four key dimensions: talent, innovation, leadership, and transparency. Talent has the greatest influence on rankings, and the payments sector stands out for its high concentration of AI specialists. On average, 6.5% of employees at the 12 companies studied are focused on AI—a figure that Evident says is the highest across all industries it tracks. This is especially notable given that payments firms typically have smaller workforces than other financial institutions. PayPal leads in AI headcount, accounting for 18% of the total AI talent across the index, with over 4,000 AI professionals. Stripe and Block also show strong density, with more than 10% of their employees dedicated to AI. Overall, the 12 companies have launched nearly 100 AI initiatives in the past two years, with the top three responsible for more than half of them. Visa has invested over $3.5 billion in AI and data over the past decade and employs more than 2,500 technologists, including over 300 AI models in production. In its 2025 annual report, Visa acknowledged rising AI competition, warning that failure to keep pace could result in falling behind. The company has also begun exploring agentic AI for commerce, signaling a shift from defensive use of AI to strategic advantage. Despite this progress, a major gap remains: none of the payments companies have disclosed their return on investment (ROI) from AI initiatives. In contrast, 10 of the 50 banks Evident tracks already share such figures. This lack of transparency is becoming increasingly noticeable, with Evident’s co-CEO Annabel Ayles noting that the market will “sooner or later demand clearer evidence of value.” While AI benefits are already embedded in performance metrics—like reduced fraud and lower transaction costs—leadership is under pressure to demonstrate tangible financial returns. As AI evolves from a necessity to a competitive edge, the next milestone may be financial transparency. The first payments company to publish comprehensive AI ROI data could gain a significant strategic advantage. The full ranking is as follows: 1. Visa 2. Mastercard 3. PayPal 4. American Express 5. Stripe 6. Block 7. Adyen 8. Finserv 9. FIS 10. Worldline SA 11. Global Payments 12. Nexi