AIB, Bank of Ireland, PTSB Partner on New Payment App Zippay

Ireland’s three largest banks—AIB, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB—are collaborating to introduce a new instant payments app named Zippay early next year. This initiative aims to compete with financial service providers like Revolut and is expected to cater to their collective customer base of five million users.

Zippay will enable customers to send, request, or split up to €1,000 in a day using mobile numbers for contacts. The underlying technology will be provided by Nexi, an Italian payment solutions company.

Avoiding Regulatory Challenges

The launch of Zippay benefits from integrating into the existing apps of the partnering banks, thus sidestepping the regulatory hurdles that halted a similar project called Synch in 2020. This earlier effort by AIB, Bank of Ireland, and KBC Bank Ireland, along with another financial institution, aimed to create a standalone payments app known as Yippay but was shelved due to KBC’s closure and additional Central Bank requirements.

The new Zippay approach mimics the successful partnership model established in the U.S. by several major banks working together on apps like Venmo and Zelle.

Competing with Revolut

In Ireland, one of Zippay’s primary competitors is Revolut. With over 10 million users across the UK and operating in more than 40 countries, Revolut holds a substantial market share but still faces regulatory restrictions that limit its operations to e-money services rather than banking.

Revolut has recently received a banking license but operates under limited deposit holding capacity and lacks full financial institution status. Its customers thus aren’t covered by the UK government’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which protects up to £85,000 per customer in case of bank failure.

Another potential competitor is SEPA Instant, launched earlier this year for cross-border payments of €100,000 or less within 10 seconds.