Ugnė Buračienė, Group CEO, and Breno Oliveira, CPO of payabl., share how differing approaches to A2A payments in Europe impact adoption levels.
The world has woken up to the potential of account-to-account (A2A) payments. For merchants, A2A payments can help reduce chargeback exposure, lower acceptance costs in certain use cases, and accelerate settlement. For consumers, they offer a convenient and secure, bank-authenticated checkout experience, often supported by biometric verification and multi-factor authentication (MFA). Brazil’s Pix is perhaps the most compelling example of A2A payments adoption at scale, while India’s UPI system has created a comprehensive, nationwide A2A payments infrastructure. These two services share a commonality: strong systemic cohesion in their core design, operating as state-backed real-time payment (RTP) systems to drive financial inclusion, eliminate intermediaries, and lower costs. Things are different in Europe, with the A2A industry being a mix of fragmented approaches.
Ugnė Buračienė, Group CEO at payabl., states that ‘Europe isn’t a singular A2A payment market. There are national schemes in the South, direct bank rails in the North and Baltics, with Wero rapidly rising in Western Europe. Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) bridge any gaps, bringing disparate banking APIs into more user-friendly Pay by Bank checkout flows. In short, it’s a little messy, and merchants operating across the continent need an acquirer that’s plugged into everything.’
A quick review of Europe’s A2A payments offering
Let’s start with the North. Sweden’s popular mobile payment system Swish, launched in 2012 by the country’s banks, is now used by around 8.8 million Swedes for online shopping. Vipps MobilePay leads in Norway and Denmark, although Open Banking players like Trustly and Zimpler dominate a growing share of cross-border volume, and in specific ecommerce sectors, such as iGaming and travel.
A2A adoption in the Baltics is disproportionately high relative to its population of roughly six million, with Pay by Bank becoming the default way people pay. Regional heavyweights like Trustly compete with local specialists, such as banklinq, which has scaled rapidly by bundling banks across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into unified checkout options.
Meanwhile, the UK’s A2A market is growing, with the Faster Payments System providing real-time settlement rails for PISP propositions. According to Juniper Research, the total A2A transaction volume will reach USD 346 billion in 2029, driven by expanded commercial Pay by Bank use and high consumer trust in bank-app authentication.
Turning West, our report on how Europe likes to pay highlighted how cross-border transactions across the continent are set to rise 58% by 2028, fuelled by Western Europe’s powerhouse economies.
Despite this growth, payment preferences are fragmented. To help address the lack of interoperability, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) conceived Wero, a digital wallet to drive the next generation of A2A payments. Live for P2P payments since 2024 in Belgium, France, and Germany, Wero had around 53 million users as of Q2 2026. Its ecommerce features launched in Germany in 2025 and are expanding progressively across Belgium and France in 2026.
EPI acquired iDEAL, which holds a 70% market share of ecommerce in the Netherlands, and Payconiq to help facilitate a smoother transition to Wero, with major migrations underway in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and more markets to join. In June, EPI announced Erste Bank and Raiffeisen as shareholders, working to bring Wero to Austria, and it has also approached British banks to discuss UK expansion.
Moving to Southern Europe, A2A payments propositions have evolved largely within national borders rather than as a unified cross-border network. In Spain, Bizum boasts 26 million active users, while MB WAY and Multibanco are deeply entrenched in Portugal. A2A payments in Italy are split between established scheme-based networks, like MyBank, and a host of PISPs.
Finally, a glance to the East shows how A2A can replace cards at scale in a single market, with the Polish mobile payment system, BLIK, amassing 2.9 billion transactions worth EUR 109.4 billion in 2025 alone.
Removing A2A payments complexity
Fragmented A2A systems force merchants to juggle multiple local options, whether it’s Bizum in Spain or Swish in Sweden. This creates costly overheads, inconsistent checkout experiences, and complicated cross-border reconciliation. payabl. is easing these operational headaches through twin solutions offered via a single payments engine – the payabl.one platform, designed to help merchants manage their entire money flow.
Breno Oliveira, CPO of payabl. shares: ‘Instant Bank Transfer is our Pay by Bank product, now live in 15 markets across Europe. It’s been built in phases, leveraging third-party solutions as well as our own direct XS2A connections in the Baltics. Merchants benefit from faster, more reliable payments at a lower cost per transaction, as well as greater control over the checkout experience. Meanwhile, Wero will help Europe establish a new benchmark for seamless, secure, and inclusive commerce. That’s why we became a licenced EPI member last October, and one of the first Wero-enabled acquirers. Our two-solution architecture is a key part of our product roadmap – a merchant contracts it once to bypass cross-border complexities as the A2A ecosystem evolves.’
This editorial piece was first published in The Paypers' Account-to-Account Payments Report 2026, which features insights into global trends, technologies, partnerships, and the next phase of the A2A evolution. Access the full report to understand where the A2A payments ecosystem stands today and what’s next.
About payabl.
payabl. is a fintech provider offering payments and business accounts for businesses of all sizes. We help merchants accept payments online and in person through card acquiring and 300+ local and alternative payment methods, manage money through multi-currency business accounts, and issue virtual and physical cards.
The company's products connect through payabl.one, its unified platform for payments, accounts, reporting, cards, in-store sales, and risk management, giving businesses direct controls and real-time information to help them understand and manage how money moves.
By bringing financial infrastructure, information and expertise together, payabl. helps businesses reduce complexity, operate with greater clarity and control, and keep money moving as they grow. We make money flow.
