This new Open Banking payment initiation service gives companies a more efficient and cost-effective way to receive online payment from customers.

With the introduction of Open Banking, innovative financial applications are coming to market, and Bottomline’s Pay Direct is one of them. As an alternative to the raft of payment methods available for making an online purchase, Pay Direct gives merchants and customers a new, convenient and pennywise way to pay and get paid.

As an Open Banking payment initiation service, Pay Direct enables online businesses to receive funds directly from the payer’s bank account via Faster Payments. Using Pay Direct, the payer initiates the payment from their trusted bank application whilst remaining in the business’s online journey, ensuring a consistent brand and user experience. This way of processing an online payment offers an attractive alternative for merchants looking to reduce card fees, benefit from quicker settlement and improve reconciliation.

Bottomline’s Pay Direct increases the options companies have to efficiently manage their cash collections - adding Open Banking transfers to Direct Debits and card processing. To ensure maximum coverage of the payer population, Bottomline has already connected to the majority of banks across the UK.

“We’re delivering the promise of Open Banking and its winning propositions for both the merchants trading online and their customers,” comments Nigel Savory, Managing Director of Europe at Bottomline. “Pay Direct adds faster and cheaper settlement options for businesses and creates streamlined customer experiences for those making direct digital payments between their banks and the businesses they buy from.”

Aimed at introducing competition and innovation to financial services, Open Banking enables regulated third parties, such as Bottomline, to build financial applications and services that give consumers better control of who can access their financial information and how they choose to process their funds.

“This is a great example of Open Banking giving merchants the ability to receive instant payments from their customers,” said David Beardmore, Ecosystem Development Director, Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE). “It is encouraging to see that despite these challenging times, we have companies like Bottomline in our thriving ecosystem who are leveraging Open Banking technology to deliver greater value and improved choice.”