Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
A2A (account-to-account) payments - statistics & facts
A2A payment methods are considered 2024's main digital payments trend as they challenge international brands like Visa and Mastercard, but sometimes have actually been around much longer. Account-to-account payments almost equal digital wallets in Latin America and Europe. These transactions occur from one bank account to another, and involve: Checks, direct debit (ACH, Automated Clearing House), or wire transfers. Currently, however, A2A is associated with locally developed open banking payment solutions. What are some of the biggest brands, and where is the United States in all this?
Whether A2A will lead to payments disruption depends on the country. Some countries in Europe already have this payment method for years, whereas some merchants or policymakers hope to see such A2A disruption sooner rather than later.
Latin America: Pix leads the way
Latin America's biggest A2A payment method in 2023 was, by and large, Brazil's Pix. The ecosystem is owned and co-developed by the country's central bank, and was introduced in November 2020. Its rollout was so successful that Brazil is predicted to have Latin America's biggest A2A penetration rate come 2027. There are several reasons for this. First, Pix processes quickly, and operates "24/7". Second, Pix is free, for consumers and businesses. Brazil's unbanked population declined significantly after 2020, inspiring other central banks in the region. Notable brands are MODO in Argentina, YAPE and PLIN in Peru, and PSE in Colombia, each of which hope to replicate the success of Pix.Europe: Modernizing payments
A2A in Europe came not from central banks, but from local banks banding together. Interestingly, the biggest A2A markets in Europe are not Europe's top five economies. Instead, account-to-account is found in Poland (BLIK), the Netherlands (iDEAL), Sweden (Swish), or in Norway and Denmark (Vipps MobilePay). Spain's Bizum also hit the news, due to its sizably increasing number of users. All these ecosystems function within other banking apps or e-commerce websites. They hope to modernize local payments, and tackle one of e-commerce's main points of friction, namely low transaction speeds. Consequently, A2A brands and real-time, or instant, payment rails are sometimes deemed synonymous with each other.United States: A long way to go
A2A in the U.S., sometimes called pay-by-bank, reached an e-commerce market share of only five percent in 2023. Whether consumers are open to direct transactions from their bank accounts is unclear. Most American consumers who tried pay-by-bank for the first time in 2023 did so because they could earn rewards. The United States does an A2A system since 2023, FedNow. However, this is currently limited to banks. It is therefore likely, its impact on consumers will initially be relatively low. Indeed, estimates are that only 3.8 percent of the overall payments mix in the U.S. will be an instant payment by 2027.Whether A2A will lead to payments disruption depends on the country. Some countries in Europe already have this payment method for years, whereas some merchants or policymakers hope to see such A2A disruption sooner rather than later.
