New data from The Global Payments Report 2024 from Worldpay shows Account-to-Account (A2A) payments thriving in emerging markets – as well as some developed markets.
Around the world, A2A payments are proving successful thanks to government support. In other key developed markets, however, consumer concerns and less pronounced regulatory enthusiasm have led to lower adoption.
A2A: revolutionizing emerging market payments
While A2A payments are the leading choice for online transactions in developed markets such as Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, Worldpay state that they are more likely to be the leading choice in emerging markets such as Malaysia, Nigeria and Thailand – not to mention Brazil and India, where government support has encouraged rapid adoption.
Brazil’s Pix system, launched by the country’s banks and government in November 2020, can be used both at Point of Sale (POS) and online, and is projected to account for 50% of all Brazilian e-commerce payment value by 2027, according to Worldpay.
“Worldpay’s Global Payments Report 2024 records rapid growth in A2A transactions in India, Brazil and other major emerging markets.”
Worldpay’s study also reports rapid growth in India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, a partnership between banks and government that began in 2016.
The data from this year’s Report notes that UPI wallet transactions, either online or at POS, account for more than 50% of all Indian transactions by value.
Developed markets: regulators take action
While merchants are keen to see A2A payments adopted as their cost of acceptance is markedly lower than that of cards, consumers have been slower to adopt A2A.
This reluctance relates partly to a lack of clarity in terms of consumer protection against fraud, as well as slower regulatory action in certain areas.
While Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) featuring the PayTo A2A system is projected to see 9% CAGR out to 2027, other markets have been less successful.
Canada’s new Real Time Rail (RTR) system was delayed again in 2023, while adoption of A2A schemes such as FedNow and Real-Time Payments from The Clearing House in the US has been sluggish at best.
The UK government has commissioned a report on potential improvements to payments and Open Banking. If its recommendations are adopted, then Worldpay project the share of A2A in UK e-commerce spending could grow to 8-10% by 2027.
At present, however, take-up of A2A payments remains broadly as limited there as in Canada, Australia and the US – markets in which card payments are still popular with consumers.
Within the EU, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) launched wero, a pan-European digital A2A wallet, in September 2023.
The EPI followed this with the acquisition of Dutch A2A provider iDEAL and Luxembourg’s Payconiq, suggesting plans to build out the success of A2A in these two markets across Europe as a whole.
In The Global Payments Report 2024, Worldpay explain how new proposals related to Open Banking from the EU could help bolster growth in A2A payments across the bloc by mandating banks to provide an API-based open banking interface and payment status information to trusted third-party providers.
Read more about A2A payments and their growing significance at POS and online in The Global Payments Report 2024
The post A2A payments: thriving through government support appeared first on Payments Cards & Mobile.