Irish banks launch Zippay digital payment service to compete with Revolut

Chief executive of the BPFI Brian Hayes said eligible customers will begin to see Zippay appear automatically in their personal banking apps on a phased basis from Tuesday.

The three Irish pillar banks are set to launch a new mobile payment service this week as they seek to compete with established alternative providers such as Revolut.

The new service is called Zippay and has been developed with Nexi, a European paytech company. It will be available initially from AIB, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB.

Zippay is an in-app service offered through customers’ existing mobile banking apps and will begin rolling out on a phased basis to users from Tuesday.

The Banking and Payments Federation, Ireland (BPFI) describe Zippay as a person-to-person mobile payment service which will allow customers to be able to send, request, and split payments instantaneously by using the mobile number of their contacts who are also using the service.

These services are already provided by other fintech firms such as Revolut and Monza but they require their own separate apps and cards.

The BPFI said that the service has the “potential to reach more than 5m eligible customer accounts of the three retail banks”.

Customers will be able to send up to €1,000 per day as well as request up to €500 per transaction.

Chief executive of the BPFI Brian Hayes said eligible customers will begin to see Zippay appear automatically in their personal banking apps on a phased basis from Tuesday.

“A key benefit of this payment service is that it is being delivered through customers’ existing mobile banking apps and therefore comes with all the same high levels of security, protection, and digital safety,” Mr Hayes said.

The new service is called Zippay will be available initially from AIB, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB.

“This avoids the need for topping up a digital wallet or downloading and using a separate app.” Digital banking solutions director of Nexi Group Renato Martini said Zippay is “designed for scalability and future growth”.

“Following this initial launch, Zippay is being offered on a non-discriminatory basis to all financial institutions that provide IBAN account services and a mobile app to Irish consumers.” 

This is the second attempt by the pillar banks to launch a system that could compete with digital banks such as Revolut.

In 2020, Ireland's three pillar banks, along with KBC, entered a joint venture to create Synch Payments, an industry-wide banking payments app with the service also being developed by Nexi.

However, plans for the venture drew competition concerns given the market power the banks held. Those concerns only grew by the departure of KBC and Ulster Bank from the Irish market.

Synch hit an early stumbling block when the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission rejected the initial application for supplying insufficient information. The competition watchdog eventually approved the project in June 2022.

However, there were further delays to the app’s development and the project was scrapped in 2023 after €17m had been invested.

Revolut is the dominant player in the digital banking market in Ireland with reportedly more than three million customers.

Another complicating factor for the three pillar banks is the decision by British digital bank Monzo to also launch in Ireland after securing regulatory approval. The service is currently being rolled out to customers.