Latest news with #paybybank
FF News
3 days ago
- Business
- FF News
Visa Brings Smarter Pay-by-Bank with Built-In Consumer Protections to the UK Market
Visa, a global leader in digital payments, is today announcing that its new pay-by-bank solution is ready for market in the UK. Built on Visa's decades of payments expertise, Visa A2A gives consumers greater choice, control and protection over how they pay via bank transfers. It is designed to make pay-by-bank transactions — including bill and subscription payments— safer and smarter. Visa A2A introduces an easy and intuitive experience for consumers, allowing them to easily manage their bills and subscriptions through their bank app. For the first time in the UK, it also introduces Visa's best-in-class consumer protections to bank transfer transactions, including clear guidelines for consumers, businesses and banks on rights and responsibilities should things go wrong. This will effectively provide a similar level of protection typically associated with card payments, so consumers can get their money back if there is an error. Visa A2A also benefits businesses, as near real-time settlement through Faster Payment System gives them greater visibility over payments and makes cash flow management simpler. Businesses can take advantage of the digital nature of Visa A2A, including notifications if a consumer changes or cancels payment permissions, and it also provides them with the ability to include more transaction data for reconciliation. Visa A2A is based on an open model that will enable banks and other industry partners to join and extend open banking-enabled payments to businesses. With a commercial model designed to work for all participants in the ecosystem and to boost the UK fintech community, Visa A2A will help to unlock the full potential of open banking in the UK. Research from Innovate Finance indicates that advancing the UK's FinTech ecosystem – a key partner in the development and delivery of Visa A2A – could unlock £328 billion over the next five years1. Safer e-commerce With an operational technology platform ready to process bills and subscriptions, Visa plans to expand Visa A2A, including e-commerce payments in the UK with a phased approach. This expansion means consumers choosing to use pay-by-bank across a variety of use cases, could benefit from similar levels of protection to those currently offered by card payments. Visa A2A for e-commerce will offer a secure, hassle-free way to pay directly through bank accounts. Customers will be able to authorise this payment method once, then simply choose pay-by-bank at checkout for a one-click purchase experience that is fast, seamless and secure. Mandy Lamb, Managing Director, Visa UK and Ireland, said: 'The UK has spearheaded innovation in financial services for many years, and in light of increasing fraud and international competition, we must continue to lead the way. 'We are proud to be working with our partners to deliver a state-of-the-art pay-by-bank experience, coupled with Visa's best-in-class consumer protections. 'Visa A2A is a game-changer – it means for the first time UK consumers and businesses using pay-by-bank will benefit from a similar level of protection typically associated with card payments.' Isabel Pitt, Deputy Director of Payments, Nationwide Building Society, said: 'A2A payments are rapidly gaining traction across UK businesses and consumers, offering a seamless and efficient way to transact. However, for these payments to reach their full potential, the right framework – rules, capabilities, and protections – must be in place. That's why we're excited to collaborate with Visa and our industry partners to bring Visa A2A to the UK. This milestone innovation will enhance payment experiences and deliver greater security and convenience to Nationwide members.' Delphine Emenyonu, Head of Unsecured Lending & Open Banking, TSB, said: 'We welcome the opportunity to collaborate on Visa A2A in the UK alongside Visa and other industry participants. As interest in A2A payments continues to grow among UK consumers and businesses, ensuring the right infrastructure, standards, and protections are in place will be key to supporting their future development. We look forward to seeing how this innovation can benefit TSB's customers.' Matthieu Barral, VP, Global Partnerships, said: 'Visa is changing how money moves with A2A payments, and is proud to be one of the first to bring this solution to merchants in the UK.' 'Together, we are giving merchants the latest option in market innovation, setting a new standard for speed, security, and payment performance.' Ian Burgess, Managing Director, Utilita, said: 'We're excited to continue our long-standing relationship with Visa as we embark on the A2A journey. We are keen to provide choice for our customers and the evolution to A2A only reinforces our continued leadership in the prepayment energy sector. The reassurance that Visa A2A provides in terms of card-like protection to both the merchant and the consumer was a key factor in our decision to partner with Visa on this initiative and we can't wait to adopt this within both our credit and prepay payment journeys.' Zak Lambert, Head of Product for Plaid Europe, said: 'This partnership brings together Visa's trusted rails and Plaid's open banking network to make paybybank as simple and secure as card on file. It's a new standard for how consumers and businesses move money—fast, protected, and ready to scale.' Alexey Gabsatarov, Chief Technology Officer, Kroo, said: 'Kroo Bank welcomes Visa's new A2A solution, an important step forward for both open banking and account-to-account payments. We view it as an inclusive, industry-led model that prioritises consumer protection, confidence and usability. Visa has already demonstrated the benefits of applying its card scheme expertise to A2A payments, and we look forward to deepening our partnership to increase choice and strengthen trust for consumers, businesses and the wider banking community.' Eline Blomme, Chief Product & Strategy Officer, said: 'We are incredibly enthusiastic about the future of A2A payments with Visa and discussing this with our industry peers. The collective expertise in this space is instrumental as we work to bring Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) to the forefront of the UK market.' 'As a payments agnostic provider, powering recurring payments is at the heart of our business. Partnering with Visa A2A for VRPs represents a pivotal step forward in this area, unlocking unprecedented levels of security, flexibility and transparency for customers and offering a seamless alternative to traditional Direct Debit.' Colin Swain, Head of Product, Corporate Solutions, Bottomline, said: 'As a global leader in business payments, Bottomline is excited to explore new opportunities that help shape the future of how businesses pay and get paid. With a strong track record of simplifying the collection of both single and recurring payments, Visa A2A complements the growing shift toward real-time and instant payment methods for recurring use cases.' Myles Stephenson, CEO & Founder, Modulr, said: 'We're delighted to be part of the launch group of Visa A2A, working closely with Visa and other participants to drive forward the next phase of innovation in A2A payments. This is a significant step forward in implementing a sustainable, industry-leading solution, aligning with Modulr's commitment to provide seamless and secure payment experiences for customers.' Ian Morrin, Head of Payments, Tink, said: 'There is clear momentum behind pay by bank solutions in the UK market, so it's fantastic to see Visa spearheading innovation and industry collaboration with the development of Visa A2A.' 'This is a pivotal moment for fintech companies, like Tink, and banks to work together to provide enhanced account-to-account experiences for consumers and businesses alike.'
Finextra
3 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
Visa A2A payments land in the UK
Card giant Visa is taking aim at the UK's burgeoning account-to-account market through its new pay-by-bank offering. 0 Visa A2A promises to give Brits greater choice, control and protection over how they pay via bank transfers. The firm says it will let people easily manage their bills and subscriptions through their bank app while effectively providing a similar level of protection typically associated with card payments. For businesses, Visa A2A takes advantage of real-time settlement through Faster Payment System to offer greater visibility over payments and simpler cash flow management. Firms can take advantage of the digital nature of the service to get notifications if a consumer changes or cancels payment permissions, and it also provides them with the ability to include more transaction data for reconciliation. With an operational technology platform ready to process bills and subscriptions, Visa plans to expand Visa A2A to include ecommerce payments in the UK with a phased approach. The firm is also working with an open model that will enable banks and other industry partners to join and extend open banking-enabled payments to businesses. Mandy Lamb, MD, Visa UK and Ireland, says: "Visa A2A is a game-changer - it means for the first time UK consumers and businesses using pay by bank will benefit from a similar level of protection typically associated with card payments." Isabel Pitt, deputy director of payments, Nationwide, adds: "A2A payments are rapidly gaining traction across UK businesses and consumers, offering a seamless and efficient way to transact. However, for these payments to reach their full potential, the right framework - rules, capabilities, and protections - must be in place. That's why we're excited to collaborate with Visa and our industry partners to bring Visa A2A to the UK."
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Pay by bank becoming a frequent option when shopping online - should you use it?
When shopping online the option to 'pay by bank' to purchase goods has become a frequently common sight in recent years. The payment method has been growing steadily in the UK and across Europe, with transactions using the technology tripling in the three years to 2024. Retailers from Papa Johns to Ryanair now offer the service, while NS&I pushes it as the main option when buying Premium Bonds, as firms continue to adopt the technology. In 2025, some 25million pay by bank transactions are processed every month, and this is likely to continue growing. However, as with any new system, there are concerns that pay by bank isn't an effective replacement for traditional methods, and doesn't have the same protections in place. Critics argue pay by bank is technically just a bank transfer, whereas a debit or credit card transaction offer Section 75 protection or a chargeback protection. So what is pay by bank, why is it becoming so popular and should you be wary about using it? A payment revolution Pay by bank allows customers to pay directly through their bank account, using their login credentials – often including biometrics such as fingerprint or facial recognition - to verify a payment. Unlike traditional payment methods, pay by bank cuts out the need to for so many middlemen in the payments process. Sweden-based Brite Payments - one of a number of firms offering the technology, alongside others such as TrueLayer, Finexer and GoCardless - says pay by bank offers a more efficient alternative to other commonly used payment methods. Lena Hackelöer, founder and chief executive of pay by bank provider Brite Payments, told This is Money: 'Payments are still relatively complex and they're still relatively expensive. 'The reason why pay by bank is more efficient is quite simply that there's fewer partners involved in any given transaction. It can be as few as the payer, bank and the merchant themselves.' In comparison, credit card transactions go through issuers, acquirers, card networks and payment gateways. For retailers, this means that adopting pay by bank significantly cuts down the fees they pay on each transaction and also often gives them faster access to the funds. In some cases, this also means cheaper prices at the checkout. Hackelöer added: 'Travel bookings, for example, are typically quite expensive to handle on credit cards. 'You'll often see positive discrimination, for pay by bank. 'There will be a surcharge for credit cards and for PayPal and for buy now pay later, and then you'll have a free payment method which will often be pay by bank.' However, there are other benefits to the consumer. The main benefit of pay by bank for users, Hackelöer says, is the ease of use. It requires just access to an online banking app, something 87 per cent of British adults use, and requires no sign up and no need to remember payment details. She said: 'What you use is typically the same credentials that you would use to log into your online bank, which is something that people have top of mind. 'A lot of people do not have their credit card with them or they don't know their credit card details by heart.' Verification via your banking app also means that pay by bank is a particularly secure way to pay online. Unlike card payments, it is very difficult for you online banking details to fall into the wrong hands. 'Credit cards can be lost, details can be subject to a phishing attack or you could even have them read when you're using an ATM,' Hackelöer added. She added: 'At Brite we process billions of euros worth of payments at this point, and fraud is almost as almost not a topic for our merchants. The majority of our customers have never seen fraud with pay by bank.' Are there protections - what if I have a problem the retailer? For purchases made using credit cards and debit cards there are protections in place in case something goes wrong. Consumers are protected by section 75 for credit cards and chargeback protection for debit card payments. It is the fact that pay by bank doesn't have these protections in place that raise concerns among critics of the technology. Hackelöer's response to these concerns is that with any reputable pay by bank provider, these issues should be few and far between. She said: 'This is a very UK-centric debate. It's incredible, we don't see this in any of the other large account markets, it's very UK specific. 'When does the chargeback reasonably occur? There can be multiple reasons for chargeback. One can be that there's fraud. 'With pay by bank, the fraud rates are a lot lower, and therefore there is less of a need for chargeback.' She added: 'But assuming the chargeback is justified, if something went wrong with the payment or goods, if you turn to the pay by bank provider, we will advise you on your specific case. 'We have a customer service team and we're always a branded alternative in the checkout because we believe that consumers expect there to be a third party to turn to if something goes wrong.' The key, Hackelöer says, is that pay by bank providers are incentivised to only work with merchants that provide good service to customers. She said: 'We only want to work with merchants that have the ambition to satisfy customers, or else we end up losing money because with are going to have to handle those errors and we need to care about the average cost per transaction.' 'We choose our customers carefully,' she said. Firms using Brite must sign a contract with the platform, and will be assessed on how they deal with customers. She added: 'if we a retailer that, again and again, has dissatisfied customers and we then have to get involved, we're unlikely to work with them in the long term. 'Pay by bank providers are inherently incentivized to make sure that their customers offer good service because otherwise it's their brand on the line.' In fact, Hackelöer argues that the absence of chargebacks can be seen as a positive. So-called 'friendly fraud', when a customer disputes a legitimate transaction in order to get a refund, is a growing problem. Lexis Nexis data reveals that friendly fraud accounts for half of per cent of fraud reported by firms, meaning that globally the industry is losing over $100billion each year as a result.
