The partnership comes as open banking gains steam and merchants fed up with rising credit card interchange fees show interest in payment alternatives.

The capability provided through Volt has the potential to reduce the cost of payment acceptance for merchants, as well as offer faster settlement of funds, FIS noted in the release.

The value of account-to-account payments globally for e-commerce was about $525 billion last year, with that figure expected to increase 13% annually through 2026, according to the Worldpay global payments report this year. By 2026, such payments will account for 10% of the e-commerce payments market, equaling about $757 billion of all global online payments, Worldpay said.

Frustration over high credit interchange fees could lead merchants to incentivize or promote bank-based payments, consulting firm Forrester Research predicted earlier this year. That firm noted Volt in particular has a “transformer” product that turns debit card transactions into account-to-account payments. 

“Real-time account-to-account payments are experiencing hockey-stick growth around the world,” said Volt Founder and CEO Tom Greenwood. “This partnership will help merchants capitalize on that growth by providing them with a standardized, scalable solution that improves user experience and drives conversion.”

Last week, Worldpay also announced a partnership with buy now, pay later provider Affirm to make Affirm’s installment options available to Worldpay clients.

FIS acquired merchant services business Worldpay in 2019, but Jacksonville, Florida-based FIS announced earlier this year it plans to spin off Worldpay, creating two separate publicly traded companies.

By Caitlin Mullen on June 6, 2023
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