The State of A2A Payments in 2026

Estera Sava, Senior Writer at The Paypers, breaks down A2A payments, their evolution across markets, the technologies shaping A2A developments, and the industry partnerships driving innovation.

Account-to-account (A2A) payments move money directly from the payer’s bank account to the payee’s without a card network in the middle. Consumers access them via instant payment schemes like Pix, UPI, SCT Inst, Faster Payments, FedNow, and RTP, through Open Banking payment initiation services (PIS) and variable recurring payments (VRPs), by scanning QR codes, or through bank-led schemes and wallets such as Wero, BLIK, Bizum, and Swish.

In several markets, A2A is the preferred online payment method. The ‘A2A Payments Report 2025’ experts interviewed for The Paypers’ 2026 A2A industry updates point to Brazil, India, and the Netherlands as markets where A2A dominates checkout, supported by public policy and mature infrastructure.

Several aspects impact growth. Instant rails’ capacity is increasing: in the US, FedNow raised its transaction limit to USD 10 million, matching The Clearing House’s RTP network, which opens instant payments to large B2B transfers. Policymakers also see A2A as a tool for competition and sovereignty.

For merchants, A2A usually costs less than cards, settles within seconds, and keeps card data out of their systems. Consumers who use mobile banking and pay by QR code find it natural, and the first agentic commerce services are starting to build on this habit.

A2A payments market size and growth

Juniper Research expects global A2A transaction value to grow from USD 91.5 trillion in 2025 to USD 195 trillion in 2030, at an implied CAGR of ~16%. Most of that value comes from B2B, payroll, and treasury payments, where individual transfers are large. The consumer segment is much smaller but grows faster: Juniper forecasts value will rise from USD 1.7 trillion in 2024 to USD 5.7 trillion in 2029, or roughly 27% a year.

In ecommerce, A2A payments accounted for 7% of global and 4% of POS value in 2025, according to Worldpay’s Global Payments Report 2026, while digital wallets accounted for 56% of online spending. Thailand and Brazil show how far A2A payments can go. PromptPay use sat at 44% of Thai online spending in 2025, and Pix at 42% of ecommerce and 34% of POS value.

APAC leads on volume. UPI processed 24.51 billion transactions in August 2026, a 22% increase from 2025, according to NPCI data, and Singapore’s PayNow is expected to bring A2A to 13% of local ecommerce by 2030. LATAM is fastest in retail, with A2A payments set to reach 44% of Brazilian ecommerce by 2030, and Colombia’s Bre-B, launched in October 2025, potentially accounting for 41% of local ecommerce.

Europe has strong domestic schemes, including Wero, BLIK, Bizum, and Bancomat, but no single solution for the entire market. However, the EPI Company and EuroPA collaboration is working to address this fragmentation. In the UK, Open Banking payments grew 53% in 2025, according to Yaspa, even though consumer awareness of Pay by Bank has decreased. The US has built capacity ahead of consumer demand, as cards and card-funded wallets still dominate checkout.

Cards and A2A payments

Cards offer three advantages consumers value: they are accepted almost everywhere, have easy-to-understand chargeback rights, and offer credit and rewards. A2A competes on cost, speed, and security, as merchants typically pay a flat fee or a lower percentage instead of interchange, scheme, and acquiring fees, and receive funds within seconds.

The risk is different too. Cards see mostly card-not-present (CNP) fraud and data theft, whereas the main threat in A2A is authorised push payment (APP) fraud, where scammers persuade people to send the money. Buyer protection depends on schemes, and dispute frameworks are still being developed. Another limitation is reach: cards work the same way cross-border, while most A2A schemes are domestic. For recurring payments, cards rely on card-on-file and network tokens, whereas A2A uses Open Banking.

How Visa and Mastercard are responding

Visa and Mastercard are building services on instant rails, including rules, liability, disputes, fraud scoring, and cross-border connectivity, where A2A is weakest.

Following Visa’s 2022 acquisition of Tink, the network launched Visa A2A in the UK in 2025. The service initially included bills and subscriptions, with ecommerce planned in phases, connecting banks and third-party providers under a common rulebook, API standard, liability model, and disputes platform. In November 2025, Kroo Bank, Utilita, and Tink completed the first commercial VRP payment (cVRP) through the framework. In September 2026, Visa added a Featurespace-tech-enabled fraud score to A2A Protect, which flags suspicious transfers before money is sent.

Mastercard runs an A2A business through its Open Finance unit. In June 2026, it partnered with PaidBy by Xryma on cross-border Open Banking payments, enabling consumers to pay in their own currency and merchants to settle in theirs. For the rest of the market, this suggests the rails themselves are becoming a commodity, and value belongs to whoever sets rules, handles disputes, and decides how payments are routed.

Key A2A payment developments in 2026

Three developments made waves in 2026. On 2 June, the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI) launched the UK’s first cVRP scheme, backed by UK banks, building societies, and fintechs, such as GoCardless. This is the use case where cards led. The first phase covers payments to public sector bodies, utilities, charities, and financial services, which the FCA and PSR describe as lower-risk use cases, and UKPI plans to extend the scheme to subscriptions and wider ecommerce later. Brazil offers a preview of what can follow, with Juniper Research citing Pix Automático as evidence that recurring A2A payments scale quickly once banks support them.

The second development is Europe’s push for payment sovereignty. Wero is live for ecommerce in Germany and Belgium. Ecommerce rollout in France began in September 2026, when it also launched in Luxembourg, and the Dutch migration from iDEAL is progressing. In February, EPI and EuroPA members Bancomat, Bizum, SIBS/MB WAY, and Vipps MobilePay signed a MoU to connect users through a central hub, starting with cross-border P2P, and then adding ecommerce and POS payments. Wero’s success in commerce will depend on how quickly merchants and retailers adopt it.

The third relevant development is agentic commerce. Juniper Research expects transactions from AI agents buying on behalf of consumers to grow from USD 8 billion in 2026 to USD 3.5 trillion in 2031. Card networks enabled them first, but Juniper warns that relying only on cards would hold the market back, and that agent platforms should support consumers’ preferred payment methods, including A2A. Agents optimising for cost may favour cheaper rails, and bank-based consent models suit delegated payments. However, several aspects need to be addressed first: how to authenticate a software-initiated payment, who is liable for agent mistakes, and how banks can keep the customer relationship when an AI assistant is the main interface.

A2A benefits for merchants, banks, PSPs, and consumers 

For merchants, A2A benefits are mainly cost- and cash flow-related. In a GoCardless survey, 91% of businesses with recurring revenue said they expect recurring Pay by Bank to reduce their operational costs. Instant settlement improves cash flow, and as no card data is stored, merchants face fewer chargebacks and a lower compliance burden. However, this depends on conversion: A2A pays off if payments succeed at every major bank.

For banks, A2A is now a new revenue source. Open Banking APIs were built to meet regulatory obligations, and TrueLayer argues that cVRPs will let banks earn money from API data access. A stronger role at checkout and less dependence on international card networks are further incentives, provided banks invest in API performance and agree on a pricing model suitable for all parties.

PSPs gain new revenue from orchestration, VRPs, instant refunds, reconciliation, and fraud tools, and their value lies in giving merchants a single integration to override scheme and bank fragmentation. Consumers get fast payments, no longer have to share card details, and can manage recurring payments from their banking app. However, adoption depends on whether they understand and trust the protection they receive when something malfunctions.

What is holding A2A payments adoption back?

The payment rails themselves work, but the surrounding ecosystem poses challenges, with four issues slowing adoption:

1. A lack of a global Open Banking standard: The EU, the UK, the US, Brazil, and India each follow a different framework, and API quality varies between markets. Therefore, Open Banking payments are largely domestic, and merchants selling in multiple countries must integrate each one separately.
2. The variety of API protocols and compliance rules: authentication flows, payee verification, fraud liability, and consent models differ by jurisdiction, which shows up at checkout.
3. A conflict between business models: the banks funding A2A schemes also earn card interchange. In the UK, UKPI sets a central price between banks and fintechs, similar to interchange, which is why the FCA and PSR had to confirm they would not prioritise a competition investigation into its first-wave pricing.
4. Low consumer awareness, as providers use different names for the same payment method.

The role of A2A payments regulation

In the EU, the Instant Payments Regulation is already in force, and Eurozone PSPs have offered Verification of Payee (VoP) since 9 October 2025. PSD3 and the PSR are behind. They published final texts on 23 April 2026, but in August they had not yet been formally adopted or published in the Official Journal. For A2A, the most important changes are the requirement for bank APIs to match banks’ own apps’ performance, permission dashboards for consumers, and stricter fraud liability rules.

In the US, the CFPB is reconsidering its Section 1033 Open Banking rule and sent a revised proposal to the White House for review in August 2026, putting original compliance dates on hold.

Across these markets, regulators share the same goal of instant, verified A2A payments with strong fraud controls. Differences involve who pays, who is liable, and how quickly the rules apply, all of which PSPs and orchestrators can help merchants manage.

Ecommerce and in-store A2A payments use cases

QR codes are the main reason A2A has moved into physical stores, and payment apps, including A2A, are expected to account for 46% of global POS value by 2030. SDK.finance points out that the QR code is only the interface, and payment cost, speed, and security depend on the scheme. Merchants are better served by dynamic codes, which carry the amount, a reference, and an expiry time, along with payee confirmation, to reduce the risk of fraudulent codes stuck over real ones.

Europe is also adding NFC: Bizum just launched an NFC-enabled A2A wallet in September, and Wero’s roadmap includes NFC and QR code in-store payments.

A2A tends to perform best for high-value purchases like travel, cars, energy, and government services, where lower costs and higher limits make a difference, and for recurring bills such as utilities, subscriptions, and iGaming. Cards are still the fallback for cross-border purchases and for customers who want credit.

Governance and interoperability between A2A schemes

Three approaches to connecting A2A schemes are at play in 2026. The first is a hub the schemes own, which I’ve already touched upon: the MoU between EPI and the EuroPA members. Then there’s payment ‘roaming’. Bluecode’s Payment Interoperability Hub is built on EMPSA specifications, so a scheme can connect once and reach all others. Its country reach is currently expanding; however, the commercial terms between the home and host schemes remain to be settled. The third is a global wallet interoperability network. TerraPay’s Xend reaches 3.7 billion wallets through a single integration, and in September 2026 it connected to Alipay+. This model must decide how to share compliance, currency exchange, and settlement risk.

A2A payments fraud, identity, and disputes

Taking card data out of payments doesn’t remove risk. With A2A, it shifts to APP fraud, identity checks, and disputes, without a common rulebook. Most A2A payments are mobile, as are many scams. UK Finance found that 66% of APP fraud cases in 2025 started online and 17% through telcos. Telco data (whether SIM cards were swapped, calls forwarded, or whether a number’s user is also the owner) can be checked in real time before a push payment, making telcos and number-intelligence providers useful partners for banks and PSPs.

Disputes are another issue, and most A2A rails don’t have a formal chargeback process, making them the bank’s direct responsibility. Each has its own procedure, and merchants often cannot present evidence. This leaves room for friendly fraud, and the market needs independent decisions, common processes, monitoring of repeat abusers, and clear liability rules.

For authentication, SMS one-time codes are the most common way to confirm payments and among the easiest to phish. FIDO passkeys are cryptographically tied to a specific website or app, which makes them resistant to phishing, and they support SCA compliance. The FIDO Alliance’s Payments Technical Working Group now covers checkout authentication and agentic commerce. For A2A, passkeys could let customers authenticate without being sent to their banking app, which benefits consumers who usually abandon shopping when redirected to another platform to pay.

In the EU, digital identity regulation is developing. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, every member must offer at least one EU Digital Identity Wallet by the end of 2026, and banks, insurers, and payment providers must accept it for onboarding and SCA by December 2027. The AML Regulation (AMLR), which applies from 10 July 2027, adds more pressure to support wallet-based identification. This is an opportunity to combine identity checks and payment authorisation in a single step.

Trust remains the main barrier to mainstream A2A payments adoption, and consumers’ fear of being hacked stops them from using Open Banking. Also, few know what happens when an A2A payment goes wrong, and the numerous brands and terms make A2A harder to recognise at checkout.

What this means for merchants, banks, and PSPs

Merchants should offer A2A payments in markets where they are popular and make Pay by Bank visible at checkout. Tracking bank conversion shows where problems lie, and it is worth asking PSPs for clear dispute terms.

Banks can start measuring Open Banking APIs uptime, latency, and error rates against their own apps, turning cVRPs and A2A acceptance into products, and measuring outbound transfers in real time. Over the next two years, they will have to meet the PSR’s performance and fraud-liability rules, accept the EUDI Wallet, comply with the AMLR, and manage liquidity 24/7.

PSPs need a single API across cards, A2A payments, and instant rails, card fallback through network tokens, instant refunds, and automated reconciliation. Beyond that, opportunities lie in routing and settling A2A payments across schemes and borders, handling disputes on behalf of merchants, and supporting AI agent-initiated payments.

Ultimately, A2A payments’ progress depends on trust.

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 the author

Estera Sava is a Senior Writer at The Paypers, bringing her expertise in content creation and editorial processes to the Audience team. Focusing on the ever-evolving fintech and payments landscape, she is involved in various high-impact projects and industry reports and coordinates the annual Account-to-Account Payments reports. Through her proactive approach and dedication, Estera helps drive the success of The Paypers' initiatives.