A2A Payments: Complete Guide for Businesses

A world of faster, cheaper, and more efficient payments is here. Account-to-account (A2A) payments are transforming the way money moves.

While they’re not new at their core, with the rise of open banking, A2A payments are becoming the top choice for industries like e-commerce and gaming. This trend is predicted to accelerate. A new study from Juniper Research forecast A2A payments to rise from 60bn in 2024 to 186bn by 2029, an increase of 209%.

A2A payments offer an opportunity of growth for businesses. Here, we take a look at how they work and why they’re the future of payments.

What Is A2A Payment?

Account-to-account (A2A) payments are transactions that move money directly between bank accounts, cutting out intermediaries like card networks. They serve as an alternative to bank cards and third-party apps, often at lower costs.

While A2A payment infrastructure isn’t new, advances in technology and the rise of open banking have recently made them more popular.

How Do A2A Payments Work?

The way A2A payments work depends on the nature of the A2A transaction – whether they are push or pull payments.

Push payments are initiated by the payer, similar to a regular bank transfer. The payer enters the recipient's bank details and authorises the transaction through online banking or a payment provider. These are often used for one-off purchases.

Pull payments, on the other hand, are started by the recipient, usually with the payer’s prior approval. This method is common for recurring payments like subscriptions or bills. Authorisation can happen through direct debit or payment initiation services (PIS) offered by third-party providers under open banking rules. Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) is one type of recurring A2A payments.

Types of A2A Payments

Like other transactions, A2A payment processing comes in various forms, tailored to different scenarios. Here’s a breakdown of the main types:

• Business-to-Business (B2B): Payments between companies, often for goods, services, or operational costs.
• Business-to-Consumer (B2C): Businesses use these payments to send funds directly to consumers, commonly for refunds or payroll. They’re fast and straightforward and are often named “payouts” by service providers.
• Peer-to-Peer (P2P): Facilitated by mobile apps and online platforms, P2Ps let individuals transfer money directly. They’re popular for splitting bills, giving gifts, or other personal transactions.
• Consumer-to-Business (C2B): These payments allow consumers to pay businesses directly from their bank accounts, often for online shopping or bills. On the e-commerce interface they are often called “pay-by-bank”. They typically come with lower fees than card payments.
• Me-to-Me: Also called intrabank or interbank sweeping A2A transfers, these are for moving funds between personal accounts at the same or different banks. They’re useful for managing savings, investments, or overdrafts.

A2A in Open Banking

Open banking has transformed A2A payments, making them more accessible through secure data sharing via application programming interfaces (APIs). This has led to the rise of a new type of A2A payment: Payment Initiation Services (PIS).

PIS are offered by fintech companies authorised as PIS providers (PISPs) under Europe’s PSD2 regulation. These providers use APIs to access read-only customer data from traditional banks and initiate A2A payments on behalf of their customers.

Although people often use "A2A payments" and "open banking (PIS) payments" interchangeably, they’re not the same. PIS refers to a specific kind of A2A payment powered by open banking technology.

What Are A2A Payments Used for?

A2A payments are versatile and widely used across industries and sectors.

In e-commerce and retail, customers can make online purchases directly from their bank accounts. Businesses can also issue instant refunds straight to customers’ bank accounts, improving their experience.

For personal finance, A2A payments enable easy peer-to-peer transactions. Friends and family can transfer money, split bills, or settle debts without using cards. On investment platforms, A2A payments allow users to deposit funds into their accounts or withdraw their earnings smoothly.

SaaS companies can use A2A payments for recurring subscription billing, providing a cost-effective alternative to traditional card-based payments.

In the gaming industry, A2A payments allow players to purchase in-game items or credits directly from their bank accounts. They also streamline payouts for rewards or earnings, offering faster payments and better experience.

For example, Wargaming, an award-winning online game publisher, is already using A2A payments for players. In 2024, Wargaming  teamed up with Noda to allow its players to pay via pay-by-bank within the game.

Benefits of A2A Payments

• Stronger security: A2A payments via open banking use strong customer authentication and are regulated under PSD2.
• Better UX: They provide consumers with a smoother payment experience, reducing shopping cart abandonment and increasing conversion rates for merchants.
• Lower costs: By cutting out card networks, A2A payments lower transaction fees for merchants.
• Faster processing: Payments are processed quickly, including reconciliation, especially in countries with real-time payment systems.

A2A Payment Companies

Let’s explore some companies that offer A2A payment solutions for businesses. This will help you understand their features, benefits, and drawbacks, making it easier to choose the best option to streamline payments, cut costs, and enhance the customer experience.

Noda

Noda is a leading provider of A2A payments, offering much more than open banking. Our payment gateway supports card payments, payouts, and pay-by-bank options through an Open Banking API, all at lower fees.

With a network connecting over 2,000 banks across 28 countries, Noda supports multiple currencies beyond the UK and Europe. We make A2A integration simple with plugins for popular e-commerce platforms like OpenCart, WooCommerce, Magento, and PrestaShop.

Our solutions include a streamlined checkout form, AI-powered routing, and acceptance recovery features. For businesses with limited developer resources, we offer no-code options like embedded payment links and QR codes.

Noda also provides advanced data tools, including secure bank login and Know Your Whales (KYC) insights to predict customer behaviour. With transaction-based pricing, we’re here to simplify payments and help your business grow.

Plaid

Plaid is an open banking platform based in San Francisco, specialising in data services with some A2A payment capabilities. Its core strength lies in open banking data.

Plaid's data offerings include transaction history, real-time balance checks, asset snapshots, identity verification, and tools for AML and PEP screening. Unlike some competitors, Plaid doesn’t provide a dedicated payment gateway or no-code solutions.

The platform operates in the US, Canada, and 16 European countries, offering basic payment initiation and variable recurring payments in certain regions. However, its services differ by country, and it lacks a unified approach across Europe.

TrueLayer

TrueLayer, based in London, is an open banking provider specialising in services like A2A payments across Europe. They offer payment initiation (PIS) and payouts through API integration and were the first in the UK to support non-sweeping Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) in partnership with NatWest.

Their platform includes features like streamlined onboarding, data access, and verification, all built on open banking infrastructure. However, TrueLayer does not offer broader payment gateway options or no-code solutions, and details about their bank coverage are not disclosed.

TrueLayer operates in 21 European countries, including the UK, France, Germany, and Spain, but does not currently serve the US market.