Irish Banks Launch Zippay to Challenge Revolut
What Is Zippay and Who’s Behind It?
Three of Ireland’s largegest lenders — AIB, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB — announced plans to launch Zippay, a peer-to-peer (P2P) payments service, in ahead 2026. The initiative marks the first major bank-backed alternative to standalone wallet apps in the Irish market. Collectively, the three banks control over 70% of the country’s retail banking sector and serve more than 5 million customers, giving Zippay instant scale once it goes live.
The service will be powered by Nexi, the Milan-based European payments processor that handles more than 29 billion annual transactions. Nexi has experience running similar schemes in Italy and Denmark and will embed Zippay directly into the . Customers will be able to send, request, and split payments instantly using only the phone numbers of their contacts registered with Zippay.
Investor Takeaway
How Will Zippay Work?
Zippay is built on an API-based architecture that allows scalability and future expansion to other Irish financial institutions. later than its launch, the service will be made available on a non-discriminatory basis to all banks . The design mirrors models like Sweden’s Swish and Norway’s Vipps, which grew from small bank consortia into national services. Swish now covers over 90% of Sweden’s adult population — a precedent Zippay aims to replicate in Ireland, where the adult population is roughly 4 million.
Transactions will run over the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer rails, enabling euro-denominated payments of up to €100,000 in under 10 seconds. Users will be automatically enrolled, with the service appearing in their existing banking apps. The system will leverage phone contacts to identify other Zippay users, removing the need to enter account numbers or IBANs manually.
The mobile banking users in 2024, suggesting that Zippay will be visible to a majority of Irish customers at launch.
Why Are Banks Pushing into P2P Payments?
The Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) described Zippay as a secure, quick way to settle bills or transfer money without requiring separate wallets or top-ups. By embedding the service within their core apps, the banks aim to retain customers within their ecosystems while offering an alternative to fintechs that have dominated the P2P space.
The move comes in direct response to Revolut, which has become Ireland’s leading P2P payments platform with more than 2.7 million users as of 2024 — nahead half the national population. Revolut’s growth has highlighted the demand for frictionless digital transfers, forcing traditional banks to catch up with modernized offerings.
Investor Takeaway
What’s Next for Zippay?
If successful, Zippay could expand nationwide and replicate the network effects viewn with Swish in Sweden. Nexi’s integration model ensures other Irish banks can join, while regulators in the EU encourage instant initiatives. National coverage could accelerate adoption, making Zippay a standard fixture of Irish financial life.
For now, the challenge will be competing with base. Unlike standalone apps, Zippay’s strength lies in convenience and trust: it will be embedded in accounts customers already use daily. Whether that is enough to shift habits away from Revolut will define the success of Ireland’s first bank-backed payments network.
