UK credit card provider Vanquis Bank, a subsidiary of Provident Financial plc, has today announced the launch of NatWest’s new open banking payment solution, Payit, within its mobile app, allowing Vanquis customers to make instant payments to their account without the use of a debit card.
Using Payit, Vanquis Bank customers can quickly and simply make a payment to their account from any major UK bank, resulting in instant update to their available credit. This means that customers won’t need to wait 2-3 business days for their balance and available credit to be updated, as is normally the case with debit card payments. Vanquis Bank’s use of the service is part of a wider partnership and innovation strategy by the provider to provide industry-leading technology to its customers.
Open Banking was introduced in 2018 by the CMA to allow licensed financial service providers to share customer data, and NatWest’s use of the technology within Payit means it’s the first major UK bank to utilise open banking to facilitate payments in this way.
Since its market launch last month to all UK businesses, Vanquis Bank becomes the latest UK company to choose Payit as the primary payment option, following accountancy software provider FreeAgent’s decision to introduce the service to its customers earlier this year. The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) also added Payit to its Payment Acceptance framework, making it available to organisations within the UK government and public sector.
Nick Gander, Digital Transformation Director at Vanquis says:
‘Vanquis is delighted to add Payit to our mobile app, improving the speed and convenience for our customers when making a payment, and a result of our successful partnership with NatWest.’
Paul Thwaite, CEO, Commercial Banking at NatWest said:
‘Payit provides businesses and customers with an effortless, safe, and open banking driven payment experience, and we are delighted to work with Vanquis Bank to introduce this innovative new option for its customers. Following launch last month we are now scaling Payit up at pace with our customers and look forward to welcoming further new businesses in the coming weeks.”
Developed in partnership with Pollinate, built by Endava, and in pilot since 2018, Payit has won a host of accolades including Retail Banker International’s ‘Best Open Banking Strategy’ award 2020, the Celent Model Bank Innovation Frontier Award 2020 and the Best Open Banking initiative at the 2019 Financial Innovation Awards.