A2A payments overview | adoption and challenges

Digital payments’ ascendant trajectory is now standard, driven by consumer appetite and evolutions in payment infrastructure. In 2026, A2A payments’ niche status is gone; they now have active policies and solid infrastructures and, in several markets, have become the dominant way people pay.

In 2025, here at The Paypers, we launched the second edition of the 'Account-to-Account Payments Report’, bringing together industry experts to create a comprehensive overview of the industry and the factors impacting its evolution: readiness, innovations, and regulations, A2A payment rails and real-time payment (RTP) infrastructures, merchant adoption and the challenges of adding A2A payments to a merchant’s payments stack, fraud prevention strategies and risk mitigation, and technologies powering A2A, with a focus on AI, Open Banking, and digital wallets.

What’s next for A2A payments?

Now, as we near the report’s anniversary and prepare for the third edition, it’s the perfect time to assess how the A2A payment industry will evolve in 2026 and beyond. To do so, The Paypers has invited the representatives whose insights made last year’s edition of our report possible, asking them four key questions:

1. Where is A2A payments adoption currently accelerating, and where is it still struggling? Why?
2. How does the rise of agentic AI and automated purchasing change the opportunities and risks around A2A?
3. Which regulatory changes are expected to further influence the real-time payments sector? 
4. What is the biggest challenge preventing A2A from displacing card payments at scale, and how can it be solved? 

Read on to find out what they have to say about adoption and challenges, and keep an eye out for The Paypers’ Key Themes page on A2A Payments this week to discover what they respond to the other questions in our four-part article series.

Where is A2A payments adoption currently accelerating, and where is it still struggling? Why?

Duygu Inanc Koyunpınar, Head of Product, DIMOCO: A2A adoption is accelerating in markets where real-time infrastructure is mature and where innovative, digital-first banks have shaped strong user expectations around speed and simplicity. Customers of these banks are already comfortable with seamless, app-driven experiences and are more open to adopting new payment flows. A2A performs best in use cases like P2P, bill payments, and increasingly, ecommerce checkout, where instant confirmation and clear value are visible. It still struggles in environments dominated by more traditional banking models, where UX is less streamlined, and API quality can be inconsistent. Combined with fragmentation and lack of standardisation, this creates friction that slows adoption, showing that the gap is less about demand and more about execution- consistency across banks and markets.

Tareq Shaheen, Product Development Director, Payment Solutions, Eastnets: A2A payments adoption is accelerating fastest in markets where it is seen as core payment infrastructure rather than simply an alternative to cards. India is the strongest example, with UPI achieving exceptional scale by embedding A2A into everyday commerce through QR codes, interoperability, and broad ecosystem participation. In the UK, growth is driven by the expansion of Open Banking payments into more everyday consumer and merchant use cases. A2A still faces challenges in cross-border commerce, recurring and merchant-initiated payments, and at checkout, where cards continue to offer greater familiarity, convenience, and acceptance. Ultimately, A2A succeeds where trust, coverage, and UX are strongest.

Kate Marsden, Chief Marketing Officer, Yaspa: A2A adoption is accelerating fastest where the economics are most compelling, iGaming, utilities, and recurring payments, and in markets like the UK and Europe, where the regulatory infrastructure is already in place. The second annual Yaspa Index, our consumer research study, reveals a critical gap: even as Open Banking payments grew 53% year-on-year in the UK through 2025, consumer familiarity with the term 'Pay by Bank' fell from 55% to 38%. The rails are working; however, the language isn't, highlighting the need for industry alignment on terminology, as one clear, consistent term at checkout builds recognition that enables scale.

Roy Prayikulam, SVP Risk and Fraud Division, INFORM: Adoption is accelerating in markets with modern banking stacks and tech-savvy user bases, particularly in Scandinavia and parts of Eastern Europe, where real-time, wallet-to-wallet infrastructures are already standard and expected by customers. It is also gaining traction among younger, digital-first customers. However, adoption still struggles in more traditional banking markets like Germany or Austria, where legacy systems, older customer segments, and limited economic incentives slow progress. The key barrier is not technology but fragmented ecosystems and a lack of a strong political and commercial push to make instant payments the default.

Martín Azcue López, Business Development Director, Bizum: In 2026, one year after the mandatory adoption of SEPA Instant Payments across Europe through the Instant Payments Regulation, A2A tech is set to be the trend for payment developments. In countries like Spain and Andorra, where Bizum has proven how A2A can become the standard for P2P payments and grow as an ecommerce solution, the focus remains on enabling value-added use cases the market demands, such as VRPs and subscriptions. Bizum Pay, the first European A2A payment NFC wallet, will be launched in Q2-Q3 2026, offering in-store payment experiences once member banks roll it out.

Tarik Zerkti, CEO, MyBank: In Europe, ecommerce A2A payment adoption is solid in markets with strong schemes, where trust and UX are well-established. With MyBank, we see traction in sectors such as automotive, energy, utilities, travel, and government payments (in Italy alone, we handle around EUR 2.5 billion yearly). Adoption remains slower in card-centric consumer ecommerce, as user habits create strong inertia, and in card-on-file and subscription models, where A2A struggles to replace stored credentials with bank-based flows that could introduce friction. In B2B, adoption is significantly stronger because structural advantages like low cost, high limits, and bank connectivity align with existing payment behaviours. Unlike consumer ecommerce, B2B payments are already largely based on SEPA Credit Transfers (SCT), so A2A is a logical evolution rather than a disruption. For MyBank, around 70% transaction volume comes from B2B use cases and its nine active operations in Europe.

Mark Beresford, Director, Edgar, Dunn & Company: As expected, A2A adoption is accelerating fastest in markets with strong instant payment rails, high digital banking usage, and clearly articulated merchant value. However, A2A is still struggling in markets where cards are deeply entrenched, for example, the US, where wallet ecosystems dominate, like the UK, or where cross-border and interoperability frictions remain high. 

APAC is one of the fastest-growing regions for non-cash transactions, and markets such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia are all seeing strong A2A uptake through domestic real-time systems and QR-based acceptance. Many wallet payment methods leverage the A2A real-time payments infrastructure.

Keith Olson, VP of ACH & Open Banking, Nuvei: Adoption is accelerating in markets where real-time rails, regulation, and everyday use are aligned. Brazil’s Pix now processes more transactions than cards and reaches the majority of adults. India’s UPI has made A2A a default for both P2P and merchant payments through full bank interoperability, while in the Netherlands, iDEAL | Wero dominates ecommerce checkout.

In the US, progress is slower. ACH moves the largest share of payment volume, but not at checkout. Consumer habits remain tied to cards, reinforced by rewards, familiar protections, and ease of use. Until A2A delivers stronger value at the point of payment, adoption will stay uneven.

Dylan Massey, Co-Founder & CEO, Interchecks: In the US, A2A is gaining real traction. Businesses are motivated by lower processing costs, faster settlement, and customer spend insights. However, consumer adoption is still lagging for practical reasons: the initial account-linking experience is often lengthy, and if the UI creates too much friction upfront, customers give up and use their card instead. Beyond friction, trust also matters. Granting a third party access to your banking information is bigger than handing over a card number, and not every consumer is ready to do so. Closing both gaps will determine how quickly A2A reaches mainstream US adoption.

Gabriel Lucas, Director, Redbridge Debt and Treasury Advisory: A2A adoption is accelerating in markets where RTP systems have become part of everyday life, such as Brazil with Pix or India with UPI. In Europe, A2A is well-established in certain ecommerce markets through local bank payment methods such as iDEAL | Wero in the Netherlands, BLIK in Poland, or Bizum in Spain; however, adoption remains fragmented across the region. While interoperability initiatives like the European Payments Initiative’s Wero and EuroPA aim to address this fragmentation, Open Banking payment initiation is still emerging within an already complex checkout environment and must compete with the convenience and protections of card and wallet payments. 

Magnus Bergaplass, Head of Mobile Payments, Merchant Acquiring/PF&I, Worldline: A2A adoption accelerates where banks deliver consistent UX, instant payments, and seamless mobile transitions from web to app, with Open Banking enabling universal access. It’s strongest for merchants in high-ticket verticals. However, adoption struggles where UX varies across banks, as well as in cross-border and multi-currency flows, where the absence of a central cross-currency scheme or orchestrator results in friction, ultimately leading to payment failures. The lack of a unified end-to-end offer hampers scale, despite A2A’s potential in Embedded Finance.

 

Don’t miss out on what’s coming tomorrow: how does the rise of agentic AI and automated purchasing change the opportunities and risks around A2A? 

Be a part of this conversation

As you read this, we at The Paypers are already at work on the third edition of the A2A Payments Report, which will be launched this summer. If you’re a solution or technology provider willing to share your expertise with other professionals in this space, we’d love to hear from you! Reach out to sales@thepaypers.com