A new partnership between PEXA and Mastercard will test account-to-account (A2A) payments for property purchases.
A2A is a programmable payment that can be used to securely reserve buyer funds and release them automatically when agreed completion conditions are met.
The collaboration will bring together PEXA’s digital property completion expertise with Mastercard’s payment orchestration capabilities to explore how money movement and property ownership transfer could be more closely synchronised.
This work is underpinned by Vocalink, a Mastercard company which processes more than 90% of UK salaries and state benefits via the UK’s always-on A2A payments infrastructure.
The proposed model is expected to be tested through Mastercard’s A2A sandbox testing environment, giving banks and partners a practical environment to explore programmable payment use cases.
It builds on PEXA’s participation in the Bank of England Synchronisation Lab, which is focused on the synchronised settlement of both lender funds and property title transfer.
Krystle Kocik, UK co-CEO at PEXA, said: “PEXA was established to make property completion and registration more certain by securely connecting money movement with property ownership.
“Working with Mastercard and Vocalink allows us to explore how synchronised settlement and programmable payments could support consumers, lenders and conveyancers, while advancing our vision for a digitally connected property market where trusted data, digital completion and next-generation payment capabilities work together.”
Helena Forest, EVP, global product and commercial, real time payments at Mastercard, said: “Buying a home should be an exciting milestone, not one overshadowed by uncertainty.
“By working with PEXA and using Mastercard’s A2A Sandbox to test new approaches, we’re exploring how account-to-account payment innovation can help make property transactions more predictable, efficient and consumer-focused.”
Keith Douglas, CEO of Vocalink, added: “This partnership with PEXA explores how A2A innovation can make property completions simpler, safer and more certain.
“This is exactly the sort of capability the UK National Payments Vision looks to unlock: better, more coordinated payment experiences that reduce friction, improve confidence and deliver real benefits for people and businesses.”
