Twenty years ago, payment innovation was driven by large incumbent firms. Larger banks and payment companies drove innovation first; regional and community banks benefited after.
Call this a “trickle down” version of payment innovation, which is akin to most technology adoption in that era. Large organizations went first, then midsize organizations, and finally the smaller organizations. This model worked for bank customers too, since they had no voice in the matter. Whatever banks offered was all they expected. And sometimes, as in the case of ATMs, it took decades for broad adoption to take hold.