The Account-to-Account (A2A), or PayByBank, payment solution developed by Ukrainian Processing Center (UPC) is gaining increasing traction after a year of successful operation. This  innovative payment method introduces a new cashless payment scenario. It offers several significant advantages, including dramatically lower payment processing costs, no card chargebacks, no requirement to use fiscal cash registers (PRRO), and automatic payer identification. In October 2025, UPC signed its first A2A acquiring agreements. Today, eight Ukrainian acquiring banks actively use the service, enabling merchants to accept payments directly from customers’ bank accounts without payment cards.

Just a few years ago, paying for an online purchase typically required customers to enter their bank card details or use digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. Today, this model is gradually being complemented by a different approach in which payments are made directly between the sender’s and recipient’s bank accounts.

A2A payments fundamentally change online acquiring. While card payments rely on card infrastructure, where a card is presented for payment in one form or another and then processed through a complex clearing and settlement chain involving the merchant acquirer, card issuer, and payment system, A2A payments enable funds to move directly from the payer’s account to the recipient’s account at the time of payment, without intermediaries. Currently, these transactions are available only within Ukraine.

UPC’s A2A/PayByBank service is already used not only in e-commerce but also at physical points of sale, for P2P transfers between individuals, and for funding investment accounts. With a fundamentally different financial model, A2A is reshaping the electronic payments market and opening opportunities in segments where card payments were previously impractical because of operational specifics or cost considerations.

The customer journey is remarkably simple. At checkout, the customer selects their bank from a list and confirms the payment through their mobile banking app. Instead of entering card details, the banking app authorizes the payment. The transaction itself is executed via an instant transfer through the National Bank of Ukraine’s Electronic Payment System (SEP).

For consumers, the new model provides greater choice and enhanced security. Confirming a transaction within mobile banking is often perceived as safer than sharing card details with online merchants. In addition, merchants can often offer discounts on A2A/PayByBank transactions because they save on online acquiring fees.

The technology has already generated several success stories among UPC clients. For example, Idea Bank launched a P2P transfer service in its mobile application based on UPC’s A2A/PayByBank technology. The solution enables customers to instantly transfer funds online directly from their accounts held with other banks.

In May 2026, UPC implemented its A2A/PayByBank service in partnership with the investment company UNIVER Capital. This enabled clients to fund their investment accounts for purchasing government war bonds through the Diia platform. Such a scenario is particularly attractive for financial institutions because customers no longer need to copy an IBAN, enter payment references, or manually fill in banking details. The payment request is generated automatically, and the user confirms the pre-prepared transaction.

“A2A payments fully meet customers’ demand for simple, fast, and secure ways to manage their money. We see this technology gradually expanding beyond traditional e-commerce and becoming a tool for a wide range of financial use cases. In effect, it transforms the bank account from merely a means of storing and controlling funds into a convenient instrument for paying for goods and services and conducting various financial transactions,” says Ihor Horin, Head of Strategic Development at UPC.