Cards, Pay by Bank and the rise of multi-rail payments

An online webinar on 17 September 2026 featured payments specialists from ACI Worldwide and Red Hat and was moderated by Jane Cooper. Presenters laid out forecasts for card and account-to-account volumes and described operational implications for banks, issuers and acquirers.

The presenters cited data showing global card transactions rose to 776 billion in 2024 and are forecast to reach 1.1 trillion by 2029. Account-to-account volumes were reported at about 60 billion in 2024 and are expected to increase to more than 185 billion by 2029.

Panelists described how card credentials are being converted into tokenised, programmable instruments that power digital wallets, embedded checkouts and agent-initiated payment flows. At the same time, Pay by Bank is expanding beyond some European markets into a broader consumer payments option.

Speakers outlined operational challenges created by multiple rails running in parallel. To support real-time A2A, tokenised cards, wallets and agentic commerce, banks and payment providers need resilient systems that can route transactions, apply consistent risk controls, reconcile accounts and handle disputes across rails without fragmenting the customer experience.

The webinar covered agentic commerce examples such as Visa TAP, Mastercard Agent Pay and Google AP2. Presenters pointed to questions about infrastructure capacity, fraud prevention and consumer dispute rights when devices or agents initiate payments on behalf of consumers.

Changes to reimbursement rules, merchant fees and compliance requirements were identified as factors that can change the relative profitability of different rails for issuers and acquirers. Presenters recommended that banks include these commercial and regulatory variables in operating-model and profit-and-loss planning.

Panelists called for a move beyond a cards-versus-Pay-by-Bank debate and urged adoption of unified transaction orchestration, cross-rail fraud and dispute frameworks, plus continued investment in tokenisation and wallet standards.