Zippay prompt €600m shift from Irish card spending, Central Bank reports

Central Bank analysis reveals Irish card spending on financial services plunged over €600m as Zippay and other A2A payment options gain traction.

Zippay is the new payment service launched by the three pillar banks.

Card spending on certain financial transactions has fallen by more than €600m since the introduction of banking payment services such as Zippay by Irish banks, according to analysis by the Central Bank.

Examining monthly credit and debit card spending by consumers, the Central Bank said there has been a significant drop in card spending in August in the financial services sector. They said the primary driver of the decline was the Merchandise, Services and Debt Repayment sector, which fell by more than a third to €647.03m in August compared to €1.8bn in the same month last year.

"This significant decline likely reflects a shift in payment preference rather than reduced consumer spending," the Central Bank notes. "The introduction of Account-to-Account (A2A) banking services such as Zippay by Irish banks has provided consumers with an alternative payment option. Consequently, these transactions are no longer recorded as card payments, explaining the sharp decline in card-based Financial Services spending."

AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB began rolling out Zippay in March. The instant money transfer service was their answer to similar services used by digital banks like Revolut. Zippay allows users to transfer money to each other without the need for IBAN or BIC details. The service is run by European payments firm Nexi and coordinated by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland.

Analysing the monthly data for August, the Central Bank said card spending by Irish consumers at home and abroad reached €9.72bn in August, a 2.7% drop from July, but grew compared to August last year.

Spending in Ireland also fell, down 2.05% to €7.83bn. The number of card transactions also dropped by 1.46% to 218.8m.

However, compared to August of 2025, both the value and volume of transactions grew, with value rising a modest 0.61% but the volume growing by 7.56%. The Central Bank said the divergence indicates that Irish consumers conducted more transactions but spent less per transaction. The average transaction fell to €35.77 in August, representing a 6.46% decline from €38.25 in August 2025. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation rose by 3.7% year-on-year.

The analysis shows domestic card spending varies significantly by county. In August, Dublin and Cork were the only counties where spending exceeded €300m. Dublin accounts for the largest share of value spent, driving just over half of overall Irish consumer spending at 535 spending €4.11bn. Cork follows at a distant second with 9% €704.1m. Across the summer months, August marked the peak spending period, with the majority of counties reaching their highest values in this month. Notably, Laois experienced a sharp increase, with value up 22.96% month-on-month and transaction volumes up 32.54%, a surge likely driven by the Electric Picnic festival as summer drew to a close.

The value of spending in stores, at the point of sale (POS) totalled €4.43bn while online payments stood at €3.40bn, down 5% month-on-month. POS displayed strong year-on-year growth, increasing by 9.31%, while online payments fell by 8.84%. The online decline was primarily driven by financial services spending, whilst underlying consumer online spending remained relatively stable.

The Central Bank said spending on clothing drove retail growth in August, reaching €278.31m. Uniforms drove the sector's growth, surging 68.58% from July, a seasonal spike driven by back-to-school spending.