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Unlocking the full potential of A2A payments for UK fintechs

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The UK is a global fintech powerhouse - London alone is Europe’s ‘unicorn’ capital, with the nation capturing 10% of the worldwide market, according to the Kalifa Review.

But the fintech landscape is evolving fast, and competition is heating up as other markets catch up and innovate. The UK can’t afford to stand still.

So, what’s next for UK fintechs? How can they maintain their edge, seize new growth opportunities, and continue driving innovation?

With the UK government committed to modernizing the nation’s account-to-account (A2A) infrastructure through its National Payments Vision (NPV), real-time payments are poised to unlock significant commercial opportunities.

Mastercard’s Helena Forest recently spoke with Finextra, highlighting how A2A payments can be the key catalyst to accelerating growth and innovation across the UK fintech sector.

A complex ecosystem: the challenges facing UK fintechs

The UK has no shortage of innovative fintechs, including paytechs and neobanks, but the road to success can be bumpy. For them to succeed, they must overcome several challenges including:

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“We collaborate with fintechs because they enable a huge array of new use cases on top of real-time rails. It’s incredibly exciting, but it is not without challenges for fintechs.”
Helena Forest, EVP Global Product and Commercial RTP, Mastercard

Opportunity knocks: A2A’s starring role in the National Payments Vision

Despite these headwinds, the opportunities for fintechs in the UK are huge – not least in A2A payments.

There were 4.6 billion real-time transactions in the UK in 2023, and it’s projected to rise to 6.3 billion by 2028 as new options, such as open banking A2A payments, increase in popularity.

A2A payments support a huge variety of use cases – spanning peer-to-peer (P2P), online purchase, bill payment, salary payment, and business-to-business (B2B) – all while delivering speed, certainty, and lower transaction costs.

Fintechs are already innovating across these areas. By building on the UK’s solid real-time foundations, they are poised for significant future growth if the government’s NPV becomes a reality and enables more start-ups to participate in the ecosystem.

Opening up access: new benefits for fintechs

Upgrading the A2A infrastructure – as proposed in the NPV – would speed up open banking adoption and boost interoperability, giving the UK’s fintechs the edge to scale, compete, and reach new customers like never before.

Crucially, the integration of ISO 20022 would allow more data to be included with payments, helping bolster fintechs’ fight against fraud. One type of fraud alone – authorized push payment (APP) fraud – led to losses of £213.7 million in the first half of 2024.

And the benefits wouldn’t stop in London. With more accessible infrastructure, regional fintech hubs – from Cardiff to Leeds, Manchester to Edinburgh – could thrive, spreading innovation and economic growth across the UK.

Learning through a global lens

While the UK has long been a source of fintech innovation, it can also learn from bold progress elsewhere - like in the Philippines, where real-time payments are being reimagined through fintech collaboration.

Mastercard’s work with ShopeePay, a registered Electronic Money Issuer (EMI), shows how fintechs can thrive when empowered by progressive regulation and modular payment infrastructure. ShopeePay piloted InstaPay’s cash-in use case, allowing customers to directly access accounts through participating banks.

“We’ve intentionally designed our systems to help fintechs collaborate and scale across diverse markets like APAC. In the Philippines, our partnership with ShopeePay - enabling direct participation in InstaPay and piloting real-time cash-in - has helped unlock faster, more inclusive digital payment experiences, ensuring we support a wider range of use cases and enable access beyond just the traditional payment players in the ecosystem. It’s a great example of how we’re working with partners to build infrastructure that’s flexible, scalable, and locally relevant.”
Bryan Sharkey, EVP Real-Time Payments International

Regulatory openness in the Philippines has enabled EMIs to participate directly in payment systems - unlocking space for innovation. Mastercard’s collaboration with industry partners has helped bring new use cases to life and expand access through local fintechs.

While UK government, regulators and industry work together towards the National Payments Vision (NPV), fintechs must be front and center - building account-to-account solutions that drive inclusion, scale, and growth.

Watch Mastercard’s Helena Forest discuss how real-time payments can unlock scale, combat fraud, and support UK fintechs.