A2A in APAC: Global Lessons from a Land Beyond Cards
This session will explore the rapid evolution of Account-to-Account (A2A) payments across the APAC region, where local payment methods (LPMs) have developed in diverse and deeply localised ways. Rather than following a single trajectory, countries like India, Thailand, and Malaysia have adopted government-backed systems, such as UPI, PromptPay, and DuitNow, which are embedded into daily life and often the incumbent option across point of sale, ecommerce, and digital services. As these systems mature, A2A rails are increasingly converging with mobile wallets, enabling consumers and merchants to access seamless, flexible, and feature-rich payment experiences, regardless of the consumer initiation medium.
Where real-time infrastructure is supported with regulatory alignment, APAC markets are demonstrating what the next generation of payments looks like. For merchants, success now hinges less on payment type availability and more on the functional capabilities that support real-world use cases. Features like Variable Recurring Payments (VRP), Payer-Side Payee Management, and Decoupled Authentication are enabling more flexible billing models - supporting subscriptions, instant ad hoc purchases, and trust-based authorisations. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how these features drive or will drive adoption and unlock scalable, resilient payment ecosystems.
The session will also examine key regulatory and operational factors shaping the region, including foreign exchange restrictions, fragmented licensing regimes, and emerging cross-border initiatives like the PayNow–PromptPay–UPI linkages. By mapping functional capability to merchant value, this session will provide a practical framework for assessing readiness across A2A systems. APAC doesn’t just offer insight into payments innovation, it’s actively defining how infrastructure, policy, and user needs can align to power the next generation of digital commerce.
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