Beyond The Card: Preparing for the A2A Economy

Account-to-account payments will grow in importance, but they are unlikely to displace cards as the dominant retail payment method in the U.S. because consumers remain attached to cards’ convenience, rewards, dispute protections, tokenization, and broad acceptance. A2A is expected to gain the most traction in use cases where speed, cost savings, and low dispute risk matter, including bill pay, payroll, disbursements, peer-to-peer payments, recurring payments, and selected pay-by-bank flows. Internationally, instant-payment systems such as UPI, Pix, PromptPay, PayNow, SEPA Instant, and domestic wallet brands show how real-time rails can reshape payment markets, while card networks diversify beyond cards to remain relevant.

Companies Mentioned: 

Ahold Delhaize, Bizum, FedNow, Fiserv, Giant Food, iDEAL, Mastercard, Pix, RTP, Stop & Shop, The Giant Company, UPI, Visa, Vocalink, Walmart, Wero