One of the key objectives of the five-year plan announced by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) earlier this year was to look at how account-to-account or interbank payments could provide a credible alternative to card payments.
The regulator has refined its priorities in this area to make it clear that good outcomes for all interbank payments should include those initiated through open-banking services.
According to PPRO, there is huge potential for market disruption, with bank transfers accounting for only 6% of all online payments in the UK, while cards account for 52% of the market. James Booth, the firm’s head of partnerships, EMEA, says it is highly unlikely that most businesses and merchants will receive account-to-account payments directly from consumers as this would create a reconciliation nightmare.
“However, the adoption of bank-transfer payments via open-banking rails will continue to grow,” he says. “Instead of merchants offering this payment method directly, we will increasingly see interbank payments being integrated into payment service providers and gateways for merchants to link with consumers.”
