The three domestic Irish banks plan to launch their new instant person-to-person mobile payments service, Zippay, on their apps by St Patrick’s Day, according to sources.
Zippay is currently undergoing pilot testing, the sources said, as the banks prepare to take on Revolut, by far the market leader in instant payments in the State, German-headquartered N26, and eye UK digital bank Monzo’s imminent launch of banking services in the State.
AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB announced last September that they had resurrected plans to launch an instant mobile payments service and aimed to have it up and running “in early 2026”.
A previous attempt by the banks to bring in an instant payments system, abandoned in 2023, was based around developing a new app. However, this project will be integrated into the banks’ existing mobile apps.
READ MORE
“Zippay will launch early this year in line with what was communicated when the service was announced last September,” a spokeswoman for Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), which is co-ordinating the project. She declined to give any more details on when it will be up and running.
Customers will be able to send, request and split payments instantaneously with Zippay by using the mobile numbers of their contacts who are also using the service.
Zippay will be available to more than five million eligible customers of the three retail banks initially, according to BPFI. It will be delivered through the technology of leading European paytech group Nexi, which had previously been lined up to power the original mobile app.
After the initial launch, Zippay will be offered on a non-discriminatory basis to all financial institutions that provide Iban account services and a mobile app to Irish consumers, and Nexi said it will manage the integration of eligible financial institutions that wish to join the service.
Revolut, which currently has more than three million customers in the State, has given no indication that it plans to be integrated.
While it signed up to Spain’s version of Zippay, known as Bizum, in late 2024, its penetration level in that market stood at only 3.5 million – or just over 7 per cent of the population – at the time. Bizam, by contrast, had 27 million users before Revolut signed up.
In 2020, the Republic’s major banks decided to launch an instant payments mobile app through a joint venture named Synch Payments. However, the project faced a string of setbacks, including delays in obtaining approval from competition and financial regulators and the withdrawal of one of its founding members, KBC Bank Ireland. Ultimately, the banks decided to abandon the initiative in late 2023.
The payments landscape has continued to evolve rapidly since the Synch project was dropped, including European banks having to join the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) instant payments system early last year. But while Sepa Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) requires use of an Iban, or 22-character international bank account number, Zippay payments can be made through mobile contacts, making transactions easier.
The hiatus has also has seen improvements in anti-fraud measures in the European payments system.
