Instant payment transactions to surpass $58 trillion globally by 2028; competing with card payments

A new study from Juniper Research found the instant payments market will grow by 161%, up from $22 trillion in 2024. This substantial growth will be driven by the increased popularity of A2A (Account‑to‑Account) wallets, such as iDEAL and Twint, along with the rising popularity of Open Banking. A2A and Open Banking payments both enable transactions to be made directly from bank accounts, bypassing the card entirely; reducing costs for merchants and complexity for users.

Open Banking Boosting Instant Consumer Payments

Open Banking allows digital wallets to leverage bank payments without requiring partnerships with individual banks; boosting access significantly. The report forecasts the ability to quickly and securely access bank accounts through Open Banking, alongside bank-backed A2A wallets, will increase consumer instant payment transaction volume from 252 billion in 2024, to over 600 billion by 2028.

A2A wallets are popular for peer-to-peer transfers, often used for informal lending and repayments to friends and family. The report identifies features such as splitting payments between multiple users as a key driver of their popularity.

Additionally, the report recognised the need for greater merchant acceptance of bank payments, both at physical checkouts and eCommerce, as the pressing hurdle to greater consumer adoption.

Report author Michael Greenwood added: “To increase adoption, we recommend that merchants incentivise consumer use by offering purchase discounts when using bank-linked payments. By encouraging adoption, merchants will benefit from lower fees for each transaction in comparison to cards.”

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Instant payments are where funds are received in 10 seconds or under, and confirmation of the payment to the parties is available in one minute.

An extract from the new report, Global Instant Payments Market 2024-2028, is now available as a free download.