A new person-to-person mobile-payment service to rival fintech banks such as Revolut and N26 has officially been launched by AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB.
Zippay is an in-app service available through the pillar banks' existing mobile banking apps and will be rolled out to roughly five million customers on a phased basis from tomorrow.
They will be able to send, request, and split payments instantly by using the mobile number of their contacts who are also using the service.
The roll-out is on an opt-out basis, meaning customers will automatically be included in the service unless they tell their lender they do not want to be.
Eligible customers will automatically be enrolled to Zippay, which will appear in their personal banking app once the service is available to them.
It will use mobile numbers saved in the customer's contact list to identify who else uses the service.
There will be no need to set up a new payee or know their IBAN, BIC, or account numbers.
Customers will be able to send up to €1,000 per day as well as request up to €500 per transaction.
There will be no additional charge from banks to use Zippay.
Chief Executive of the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (the group representing banks) Brian Hayes, said "a key benefit of this payment service is that it is being delivered through customers' existing mobile banking apps and therefore comes with all the same high levels of security, protection and digital safety".
"This avoids the need for topping up a digital wallet or downloading and using a separate app," he added.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Hayes said Zippay was a very significant development for consumers.
He explained "it's a person-to-person mobile payment service that effectively links up those clunky IBAN numbers that we all know with your mobile phone network.
"So, it allows people to send, receive and make split payments on an instant basis to each of the three pillar bank customers.
"So that's a very significant development. It's going to improve significantly customer experience, customer choice.
"And I think more importantly than that even, it's a five-million establishment in terms of customer base of a new platform that's available to all other enterers to the market or indeed existing players.
"So, potentially this has the opportunity to develop a really strong Irish platform, which has all kinds of opportunity in terms of scale, growth and investment."
'Sometimes slow and steady wins the race'
He added that as other banks join the service, which he said is likely to happen, customers will then be able to make payments across the entire sector.
"So, for instance, our colleagues in the credit union sector have some very interesting and important current account systems as indeed do An Post and other banks that operate in the sector.
"So, we see this very significant investment by AIB, Bank of Ireland, PTSB, as a platform for future development across the whole country.
"And it's something, given the importance of payments and what payments can do as an enabler for growth, something that's really significant."
He said that "competition is a good thing. Consumer choice is a good thing. Having consumers make their own decisions is really important, and that experience we found in the last few years, on the basis of consumer research that people actually aren't that keen to download new apps.
"They want to use their existing bank apps. They may well be multi-banked. But a lot of them will have them already, I suppose."
On being a bit late in launching such a system, he said that the research shows that people are not very keen to top up other apps.
"So, I think what's important is this will provide a really important service for those five million customers.
"Some people have said we're late to the party on this. I don't accept this. I think in many respects, having looked at other countries and the mistakes that were made there, sometimes slow and steady wins the race.
"And I think AIB, Bank of Ireland, PTSB, in making this very significant investment in providing an open platform for others to join, it has the potential in terms of a roadmap for future development of being really significant in terms of additional merchant or business additions that might come into the future.
"But it's open for all to join. That's the really important message", he said.
The technology behind the service will be delivered by Italian payment systems company Nexi.
Other financial institutions such as credit unions and fin-tech banks can apply to be included, however, they will have to pay to do so and their integration will be managed by Nexi.
Digital Banking Solutions Director of Nexi Renato Martini said Zippay is built "for scalability and future growth" and that following the launch it is "being offered on a non-discriminatory basis to all financial institutions that provide IBAN account services and a mobile app to Irish consumers".
The launch of Zippay follows a previous failed attempt by the three pillar banks to launch a mobile payments system.
In 2023 AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB scrapped plans for an app similar to Revolut, after multiple delays due to a number of issues including difficulty in securing regulatory approval.
However, the new Zippay service will not require the same level of approval because it does not involve the creation of a new app but is being integrated into the banks' existing mobile apps.
As Zippay rolls out, eligible customers of AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB will receive information through email and in-app messages.
There is also a dedicated website (www.Zippay.ie) with additional information on how the service will work.
