📝 Paypers report on account-to-account payments in 2026 (part 2)

📝 Paypers report on account-to-account payments in 2026 (part 2)

Full report; part 1.

Continuing…

4⃣ Technology trends:

🟡 Real-Time Payments (RTP) — instant payment infrastructure that enables funds to be transferred 24/7.
🟡 Open Banking — a mechanism that allows authorized third-party services, with the customer’s consent, to interact with their bank account through APIs and initiate payments.
🟡 Payment Initiation Services (PIS) — services that initiate payments from a customer’s account through banking infrastructure.
🟡 Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) — recurring payments with flexible parameters, such as variable amounts and predefined limits.
🟡 Open Finance — extending Open Banking principles to other financial data, including investments, loans, insurance, and pensions.
🟡 CBDCs — central bank digital currencies.
🟡 QR codes and NFC — methods for making A2A payments in physical stores.

5⃣ Geographic characteristics:

There is still no single global A2A standard; the industry is developing according to different models in different countries.

🟢 Europe🇪🇺: Wero🇩🇪, BLIK🇵🇱, Bizum🇪🇸, and other national solutions are developing amid efforts to create an interconnected European infrastructure.
🟢 United States🇺🇸: card payments retain their position; the FedNow and RTP networks are developing independently and are incompatible with each other.
🟢 Brazil🇧🇷: Pix accounts for 42% of e-commerce volume and 43% of point-of-sale (PoS) payments.
🟢 Colombia🇨🇴: Bre-B, like Pix, demonstrates the potential of national instant payment systems.
🟢 India🇮🇳: UPI processed 24.51 billion transactions in August 2026. Its scalability is supported by government backing, including zero processing fees.
🟢 Singapore🇸🇬: development of PayNow and exploration of international interoperability between payment systems.
🟢 Thailand🇹🇭: PromptPay accounted for 44% of online spending in 2025.
🟢 Australia🇦🇺: experience with PayTo shows that new infrastructure may be adopted more slowly when merchants lack clear incentives.
🟢 United Arab Emirates🇦🇪 and Africa 🇿🇦: national instant payment systems, such as Aani in the UAE and NIBSS Instant Payments in Nigeria🇳🇬.

🟩 Summary: government support, active bank participation, and clear benefits for merchants and consumers significantly accelerate A2A adoption.

6⃣ International payments and system interoperability are key challenges

Most A2A systems were designed for domestic markets. Cross-border payments face challenges involving currency conversion, regulation, and participant liability. Settlement and data exchange are also difficult.

🟦 Three approaches to addressing these challenges:

🔵 Connecting national systems through a shared hub: in Europe, the Wero system is being developed with support from EPI.
🔵 Interoperability gateways: connecting participants to a hub that provides access to multiple systems.
🔵 Integrating digital wallets through global networks.
Beyond technical solutions, common rules must be established for dispute handling, liability allocation, currency conversion, and fraud prevention.

To be continued.

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