Open banking payments are rapidly evolving from a regulatory initiative into a viable alternative to traditional card-based payment networks. By allowing consumers to authorize payments directly from their bank accounts through secure APIs, open banking enables account-to-account (A2A) transactions that can reduce processing costs, accelerate settlement, and improve payment security. As financial institutions and fintech providers continue expanding connectivity across banks, merchants are beginning to view open banking as more than just a compliance requirement—it is becoming the foundation for a new generation of digital payment solutions.
The launch of BNP Paribas Instanea, built on Token’s open banking infrastructure, represents an important milestone in that evolution. By combining PSD2 APIs with SEPA Instant payments, the platform gives merchants access to real-time account-to-account payments while reducing reliance on traditional card rails. Beyond lower acceptance costs, the solution offers immediate settlement, strong customer authentication, and reduced fraud exposure through bank-based payment authorization. Perhaps most significantly, the involvement of a major global financial institution provides the brand recognition and trust that many merchants have been seeking before adopting open banking payments at scale, helping move the industry closer to a standardized alternative payment ecosystem.
BNP Paribas has announced that it will deploy a new payment method called Instanea that is constructed on top of the Open Banking infrastructure instantiated by Token. It has long been recognized that Open Banking enables access to a bank’s payment infrastructure and that by integrating across a sufficient number of banks an alternative payment infrastructure could be developed.
While merchants would like to get off the traditional payment rails to lower their costs, this is difficult without standardization and brand safety. Token has been integrating to a large number of banks, but lacked brand safety and isn’t a standard. With the backing of BNP Paribas Token Pay may gain the status of defacto standard and gains the brand safety of BNP Paribas.
“Leading open banking payments platform, Token, and BNP Paribas, today announced the launch of the first online payments service to combine the power of SEPA Instant and PSD2 APIs, two major initiatives from the European Payments Council. Developed with Token, BNP Paribas Instanea is a turnkey instant payments initiation solution. It delivers account-to-account (A2A) payment capabilities to dramatically enhance the speed and increase the security of transactions for merchants across Europe.
Token’s open payments platform is driving the shift from traditional payment methods to A2A payments. It provides pan-European connectivity to banks, and rich functionality to enable existing Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to benefit from open banking capabilities.
BNP Paribas Instanea will easily integrate with popular shopping carts and payment gateways to deliver immediate payment settlement and enhance security. Risks like chargeback, are also eliminated as payments are authenticated by the customer in their banking portal.
“SEPA Instant has provided a foundation for additional fast and secure payment solutions for our eCommerce clients,” comments Carlo Bovero, Global Head of Cards and Innovative Payments at BNP Paribas. “The advent of open banking APIs presents a unique opportunity to innovate and deliver instant payments at scale. Token’s technology has equipped us with an unrivaled breadth of API connectivity. BNP Paribas Instanea empowers merchants to leverage open banking APIs to manage cash-flow in real-time and deliver better checkout experiences.”
The continued advancement of open banking payments demonstrates how collaboration between established financial institutions and fintech innovators can accelerate the development of alternative payment infrastructure. Solutions that combine broad bank connectivity, standardized APIs, and trusted financial brands have the potential to overcome many of the adoption challenges that previously limited account-to-account payments. As merchants seek lower costs and faster settlement, these capabilities become increasingly attractive compared with traditional payment methods.
BNP Paribas’ adoption of Token’s technology illustrates that the future of payments may not depend solely on replacing existing card networks, but on creating compelling alternatives that deliver measurable benefits for merchants and consumers alike. As open banking payments mature across Europe and other markets, greater interoperability, trusted partnerships, and seamless customer experiences will play a central role in determining whether account-to-account payments achieve widespread commercial adoption.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
