Account-to-account (A2A) payments at the point of sale have been predicted to take over from cards for a decade. The infrastructure is now largely in place: the EU Instant Payments Regulation has made instant euro transfers standard, and in the UK most consumers have heard of Pay by Bank. Yet A2A still accounts for a small share of UK e-commerce, in one of the most developed open banking markets in the world. The useful question for merchants and acquirers is not whether A2A is real, but where it actually replaces cards.

Where A2A is winning

A2A grows fastest where the savings are largest and customers already pay this way: utilities, recurring bills, account top-ups and online gaming. Avoiding card fees of 1 to 2% per transaction matters most in high-volume, low-margin businesses.

High-value purchases are another strong case: electronics, car deposits, furniture and professional services invoices. At these values, a 1 to 2% saving makes a real difference to the merchant, and the customer is already making a considered purchase, so an extra step at checkout matters less.

Europe is also moving. Ireland has a new A2A option in Zippay, and Spain's Bizum is extending from person-to-person payments into in-store payments. European banks and schemes are working on connecting national A2A systems so that customers can pay across borders, as an alternative to the international card schemes.

Where cards keep their advantages

Consumer protection is built into cards: chargeback rights, dispute handling and, in the UK, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. For any purchase a customer might want to reverse, cards offer protection that A2A does not yet match. This is less a technology problem than a question of rules and commercial models, which the industry is addressing through variable recurring payments and dispute services, but these are not yet equal to card chargebacks.

Cross-border payments are another gap. Cards handle currency conversion, acceptance and disputes across markets where A2A systems are fragmented or missing. For merchants with many international customers, cards remain the main payment method, while A2A is still mostly domestic.

Familiarity is also mixed. Many UK consumers know they can pay by bank but do not understand or fully trust how it works. That hesitation at checkout is something cards, with decades of habit behind them, do not face. Overcoming it takes sustained work on the checkout experience, not just a technical integration.

The acquirer's position

For acquirers, the question is how to position as A2A grows where the economics favour it. Card-only acquirers risk losing volume in high-value categories. Acquirers that offer A2A alongside cards through one acceptance service keep the merchant relationship whichever method the customer chooses. Pricing should reflect this: merchants benefit from lower A2A costs and should have a reason to promote it, while the acquirer keeps the relationship and service revenue even if per-transaction income differs from cards.

The GCC

In the GCC, A2A infrastructure has grown through national instant payment systems: SARIE in Saudi Arabia, Aani in the UAE and Fawran in Qatar. These are used mainly for person-to-person and business payments, and merchant acceptance is still developing. Open banking licensing, now under way in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is creating the API layer that will let third parties start A2A payments. Merchant A2A acceptance in the GCC is at an earlier stage than in Europe and the UK, but the foundations are in place.