Insight: What do we know about consumer appetite for A2A payments?

It has been well-documented that traditional payment methods such as cards and cash-on-delivery are in decline. And, as they lose market share, Open Banking payments are taking off across the UK and Europe and are now predicted to account for $87 billion of Europe’s transaction volume by 2026.

At Token.io, we have long championed Open Banking enabled account-to-account (A2A) payments – not simply as an alternative to card payments but as a genuine threat.

They outperform traditional methods of payment when it comes to reach, cost, conversion, security and user experience – the list goes on.

The human element of Open Banking payments

But how close are we exactly to seeing A2A payments go mainstream in the UK and Europe?

We know the influence that regulation and innovation have – those are, perhaps, easier to measure. But without knowing and understanding how consumers perceive these types of payments, how close we are to seeing A2A payments go mainstream is a difficult question to answer. After all, payments are mainly about people.

With that in mind, Token.io teamed up with Open Banking Expo to deliver a data-driven look at the human element that will fuel Open Banking payments’ future.

Token’s Jess Gerrow

We conducted a joint survey of more than 1,000 consumers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland, asking them about the attitudes, preferences and behaviours shaping their financial and digital lives.

The results – some surprising, while others confirmed what we already knew – can be found in our report, titled ‘Who will pay by bank?’.

While I’d strongly recommend you download the full report, there are some key findings I’d like to bring to your attention.

The first is that 81% of consumers say they are likely to make an A2A payment in the future. When broken down by country, this figure rose to 85% in the UK and Poland, respectively.

Another positive finding was that a significant proportion of consumers reported they were “very likely” to make an A2A payment in future – as high as 53% among UK respondents.

Just under half of the respondents (46%) had made an instant bank transfer in the three months preceding May 2022, rising to 67% of those surveyed in Germany. In fact, our research found that instant bank transfers are among the top five payment methods in each of the six countries in which we polled consumers.

Payment preferences revealed

We presented the consumers we polled with a range of purchase scenarios, from one-off high value payments to lower value recurring payments. These included buying a car, paying a bill, sending money to friends and family, paying for a subscription, and paying loan or credit card debt. In every one of these scenarios, consumers said they preferred to pay with instant bank transfers over cards.

The report breaks this down in far more detail but the regional variations are particularly interesting. For example, when buying a car, instant bank payments are preferred by over a quarter of consumers in all markets and up to half of consumers in the Netherlands, and 47% and 45% respectively in Germany and Italy.

One crucial question we sought to answer is, who is paying by bank today in Europe? We can reveal that the strongest A2A payment adoption rates are among consumers in Germany and the UK, particularly those aged 35 to 44.

However, you’ll have to read the report to find out which countries are gearing up to pay by bank tomorrow.

Token.io and Open Banking Expo’s new survey report doesn’t stop there. Our findings and data also reveal more about the widespread consumer behaviours that will support continued uptake of frictionless A2A payment user experiences and demonstrate a connection between payment card detail entry and abandonment at checkout.

The report identifies those countries most keen to pay by bank when shopping online and in stores, as well as revealing whether – and where – QR code usage for payments is widespread in Europe.

Industry insights

As we roll into the fifth year of Open Banking in Europe, we also present data on how consumers understand what Open Banking can enable them to do and its evolving role in their lives.

While the data from our research is enlightening, our report also provides insights from some of the key players in the industry, including the Open Banking Implementation Entity’s ecosystem development director David Beardmore, vice president international Open Banking payments at American Express Holly Coventry, as well as chief marketing officer at Banked Lisa Scott, and Nick Daniel, Vyne co-founder and director of business development.

Overall, the findings and insights point to an industry that is moving in the right direction. At one end of every A2A payment is a person, and our research suggests that they are ready for the rollout and mass adoption of account-to-account payments powered by Open Banking.

Download the report here to learn more.

Written by Jess Gerrow, vice president of marketing at Token