The Account-to-Account instant payments market size is expected to grow from USD 116.20 trillion in 2025 to USD 125.30 trillion in 2026 and is forecast to reach USD 188.60 trillion by 2031 at 8.5% CAGR over 2026-2031. This report is segmented by Payment Flow (Domestic Instant Payments, Cross-Border Instant Payments), Transaction Type (Person-To-Person (P2P), Person-To-Business (P2B), and More), Ticket Band (Micro/Retail, SME/Mid-Value, High-Value), and Geography (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa). The Market Forecasts are Provided in Terms of Value (USD).
Other drivers and restraints analyzed in the detailed report include:
Domestic rails still need common standards before they can connect efficiently across jurisdictions. SWIFT made ISO 20022 mandatory for cross-border payment instructions in November 2025. Cross-border instant payments are projected to grow at 15.2% CAGR from 2026 to 2031, making them the fastest payment flow. The Bank for International Settlements identified fast payment system interlinking as the highest-potential mechanism for lowering cross-border retail-payment costs. Project Aperta also showed that a neutral API layer can support interoperability across 5 jurisdictions. Divergent anti-money-laundering rules, settlement-finality rules, and foreign-exchange models will continue to affect the pace of cross-border deployment.
The Middle East and Africa region is projected to grow at 14.7% CAGR from 2026 to 2031. The Arab Monetary Fund’s Buna platform extended to Pakistan’s Raast in October 2025. This expansion reflects the region’s interest in linking domestic instant-payment systems across corridors. In North America, FedNow and RTP together settled more than USD 2 trillion in 2025. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Section 1033 rule remains a variable for the United States open-banking development. Payment providers in the region must also address access for smaller financial institutions as they expand account-based payment services.
Europe’s regulatory environment accelerated structural adoption in 2025. The European Union regulation required euro-area payment service providers to offer instant transfers and Verification of Payee from October 2025. The regulation applies to 3,000 payment service providers. PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation cleared COREPER in April 2026 and are expected to support harmonized open-banking rules by 2028. In South America, Pix represented 54.7% of retail payments in the second half of 2025. Argentina and other South American countries retain emerging instant-payment systems supported by central-bank digitization mandates.
Global Account-to-Account (A2A) Instant Payments Market Trends and Insights
Regulatory Mandates and Public-Sector Support for Instant Payments
The European Union Instant Payments Regulation turned voluntary capability into a baseline obligation for payment service providers. The regulation applied sends and Verification of Payee deadlines from October 2025 for euro-area providers and aligns instant credit transfer pricing with conventional transfer pricing. The European Central Bank also allowed eligible non-bank payment service providers to access TARGET directly in October 2025, reducing reliance on bank balance sheets for euro instant-payment settlement and broadening participation in the account-to-account (A2A) instant payments market. Brazil and India show how operating rules and pricing policies can drive adoption. Brazil’s Pix operates as a zero-fee rail and reached 86% adult-population participation. India’s UPI operates under a zero-merchant-discount model and accounted for 84% of retail payment volume by June 2026. These models reduce cost barriers for consumers and merchants while giving providers a large installed base for additional services. The A2A instant payments market depends on policy choices governing access, pricing, and participation as much as on technology deployment.Open Banking and API-Based A2A Payment Initiation
Open banking increasingly connects customer bank accounts directly to merchant payment flows. As of Q2 2026, 247 of the 357 EEA-regulated third-party providers held payment initiation permissions, representing more than 69% of the ecosystem. Payment initiation activity is also expanding, with payment-related open banking activity in the United Kingdom increasing by 53% year on year. On June 2, 2026, the United Kingdom Payments Initiative launched its commercial Variable Recurring Payments (cVRP) scheme, enabling recurring payments through open banking infrastructure. eBay introduced Pay by Bank at its United Kingdom checkout through TrueLayer, while Stripe and TrueLayer launched Pay by Bank in France and Germany, extending account-to-account (A2A) payments across European commerce. Meanwhile, BIS Project Aperta, published on May 29, 2026, demonstrated cross-border open finance interoperability across the United Kingdom, the UAE, Brazil, Hong Kong SAR, and India. The project highlighted the potential of a common API-based infrastructure to connect domestic networks. These developments strengthen the outlook for A2A payments as interoperability, recurring payment capabilities, and merchant acceptance improve across markets.Authorized Push-Payment Fraud and Associated Liability Costs
Authorized push payment fraud remains a material constraint because instant transfers are difficult to reverse after settlement. In the first year of the United Kingdom Payment Systems Regulator’s mandatory reimbursement regime, 269,000 authorized push payment fraud claims were filed. Of these, 188,000 were eligible, and 88% were reimbursed. Reimbursements totaled GBP 173 million (USD 220 million), with a GBP 85,000 (USD 108,000) cap per claim. Sending and receiving payment service providers shared the costs equally, encouraging investment in beneficiary account monitoring and mule account detection. Fraud risk is also increasing the need for preventive controls. Visa reported that fraudulent credit transfers cost European Union consumers and businesses EUR 2.5 billion (USD 2.7 billion) in 2024. In 2025, the European Payments Council warned that generative artificial intelligence could enable fraudsters to use deepfake audio and video at scale, reducing the time available for human intervention. The account-to-account (A2A) instant payments market requires real-time screening to identify suspicious payees before funds leave an account. Liability rules will continue to influence the cost of implementing these controls.Other drivers and restraints analyzed in the detailed report include:
- Expansion of Instant A2A Use Cases Across Consumer, Merchant, and Business Payments
- Consumer and Merchant Demand for Faster, Lower-Cost Payments
- Competitive Advantages of Card Payments in Credit, Rewards, and Consumer Protection
Segment Analysis
Domestic instant payments accounted for 98.2% of the account-to-account (A2A) instant payments market size in 2025. India’s UPI processed 24,162 crore transactions in fiscal year 2025-26. These transactions were valued at USD 3.7 trillion, and UPI represented 84% of retail payment transactions by June 2026. Brazil’s Pix processed 79.8 billion transactions in 2025. This was 25.7% higher than in 2024. Pix transactions were valued at BRL 35.36 trillion (USD 6.04 trillion) and accounted for a 54.7% share of Brazilian retail transactions.Domestic rails still need common standards before they can connect efficiently across jurisdictions. SWIFT made ISO 20022 mandatory for cross-border payment instructions in November 2025. Cross-border instant payments are projected to grow at 15.2% CAGR from 2026 to 2031, making them the fastest payment flow. The Bank for International Settlements identified fast payment system interlinking as the highest-potential mechanism for lowering cross-border retail-payment costs. Project Aperta also showed that a neutral API layer can support interoperability across 5 jurisdictions. Divergent anti-money-laundering rules, settlement-finality rules, and foreign-exchange models will continue to affect the pace of cross-border deployment.
Complete Report Scope:
- By Payment Flow
- Domestic Instant Payments
- Cross-Border Instant Payments
- By Transaction Type
- Person-to-Person (P2P)
- Person-to-Business (P2B)
- Business-to-Person (B2P)
- Business-to-Business (B2B)
- Person-to-Government (P2G)
- Government-to-Person (G2P)
- Business-to-Government (B2G)
- Others
- By Ticket Band
- Micro / Retail
- SME / Mid-Value
- High-Value
- By Geography
- North America
- United States
- Canada
- Mexico
- South America
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Rest of South America
- Europe
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Rest of Europe
- Asia-Pacific
- China
- Japan
- India
- South Korea
- Australia
- Indonesia
- Thailand
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- Vietnam
- Rest of Asia-Pacific
- Middle East and Africa
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
- Turkey
- South Africa
- Egypt
- Rest of Middle East and Africa
- North America
Geography Analysis
Asia-Pacific held 67.5% of the global account-to-account (A2A) instant payments market in 2025. UPI processed 24,162 crore transactions in fiscal year 2025-26, and monthly volumes exceeded 2,300 crore for the first time in May 2026. UPI operates across 11 countries and represents 49% of global real-time payment volumes. Brazil’s Pix recorded 79.8 billion transactions during 2025. Pix reached more than 170 million individual users in 2026 and exceeded 7 billion monthly transactions. Singapore’s PayNow is live with UPI, while Malaysia’s DuitNow, Thailand’s PromptPay, Indonesia’s QRIS, and Vietnam’s NAPAS are progressing through bilateral payment corridors.The Middle East and Africa region is projected to grow at 14.7% CAGR from 2026 to 2031. The Arab Monetary Fund’s Buna platform extended to Pakistan’s Raast in October 2025. This expansion reflects the region’s interest in linking domestic instant-payment systems across corridors. In North America, FedNow and RTP together settled more than USD 2 trillion in 2025. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Section 1033 rule remains a variable for the United States open-banking development. Payment providers in the region must also address access for smaller financial institutions as they expand account-based payment services.
Europe’s regulatory environment accelerated structural adoption in 2025. The European Union regulation required euro-area payment service providers to offer instant transfers and Verification of Payee from October 2025. The regulation applies to 3,000 payment service providers. PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation cleared COREPER in April 2026 and are expected to support harmonized open-banking rules by 2028. In South America, Pix represented 54.7% of retail payments in the second half of 2025. Argentina and other South American countries retain emerging instant-payment systems supported by central-bank digitization mandates.
List of Companies Covered in this Report:
- Trustly
- Volt
- TrueLayer
- Plaid
- GoCardless
- Token.io
- Yapily
- Brite Payments
- Banked
- Ivy
- Dwolla
- Aeropay
- Brankas
- Prometeo
- Salt Edge
- Neonomics
- Zimpler
- Fintecture
- Kevin.
- Orum
Additional Benefits:
- The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
- 3 months of analyst support
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION
4 MARKET LANDSCAPE
5 MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH FORECASTS
6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
Companies Mentioned (Partial List)
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:
- Trustly
- Volt
- TrueLayer
- Plaid
- GoCardless
- Token.io
- Yapily
- Brite Payments
- Banked
- Ivy
- Dwolla
- Aeropay
- Brankas
- Prometeo
- Salt Edge
- Neonomics
- Zimpler
- Fintecture
- Kevin.
- Orum
