What are Pay by Bank APIs?
Pay by Bank APIs are interfaces offered by Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) so merchants can initiate payments from a customer’s bank account at checkout or for recurring flows. Under open banking rules (e.g. PSD2 in Europe), banks expose APIs that PISPs use to trigger payments with the customer’s consent and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
Also called account-to-account (A2A) or bank transfer payments, they bypass card networks. Benefits include lower fees (often 0.1–0.5% vs 1.5–3% for cards), same-day or instant settlement, no chargebacks, and no card data to store.
Pay by Bank API Providers (In-Depth)
Researched list of major Pay by Bank and Payment Initiation API providers by region and use case.
UK and European specialist for Pay by Bank and payment initiation. Offers pay-by-bank checkout, payouts, and Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) with strong bank coverage and conversion-optimized flows.
Visa-owned European open banking platform. Processes millions of Pay by Bank payments monthly with sub-40-second journeys and 80–90% completion rates. Single API for EU bank connectivity and PSD2 payment initiation.
Payment Initiation for UK and Europe: domestic payments in GBP, EUR, and local currencies, plus international via SEPA and Faster Payments. Best known for data (9,600+ banks, 59 countries) with expanding pay-by-bank.
Global open banking checkout for Pay by Bank. Instant account-to-account payments with conversion-optimized flows, intelligent bank search, and support for Faster Payments (UK), SEPA (EEA), and Pix (Brazil). API-only, hosted, and embedded options.
PSD2-compliant Pay by Bank API connecting to 3,500+ banks across Europe through one integration. Enables up to ~80% cost savings vs cards, same-day settlement, SCA, and configurable payment experiences.
Open banking platform with 2,000+ banks in 19 countries. Single and bulk payments, Variable Recurring Payments (VRP), and data services via a single API. Strong in UK and Germany.
A2A payments infrastructure positioning bank transfers as 2–20x cheaper than cards with near-instant settlement. No chargebacks, bank-grade security, no screen scraping. Enterprise PIS focus.
Bank payment platform with GoCardless Embed for white-label Pay by Bank. Mandate setup, payment collection, and webhooks for reconciliation. Strong for recurring and one-off bank debits across many countries.
Open banking payments platform for pay-by-bank across the UK and Europe. Live in GB, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL with a focus on simple integration and checkout.
Pay by Bank via white-label open banking compliant with PSD2 and NextGenPSD2. Pricing around £0.11 + €0.50 per transaction. Refunds via SEPA; no chargebacks, only non-settlement disputes.
PSD2 and open banking connectivity with payment initiation across 1,500+ banks in 70+ countries. Single API for account data and payment initiation.
Open finance platform for Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. Account data and payment initiation (e.g. Pix in Brazil) for lending, PFM, and pay-by-bank use cases.
Nordic open banking with payment initiation and account aggregation across Nordic and European banks.
European open banking and payment initiation connectivity for merchants and platforms.
European open banking with data and payment initiation for apps and merchants.
Regional Coverage
- UK & Europe: TrueLayer, Tink, Yapily, Banked, Neonomics, GoCardless, Adyen, Salt Edge, Token.io, Nordic API Gateway, Open Payments Europe. Use Faster Payments (UK) and SEPA (EEA).
- Global / multi-rail: Volt (FPS, SEPA, Pix), Plaid (UK/EU payment initiation + global data), Salt Edge (70+ countries).
- Latin America: Belvo (Mexico, Colombia, Brazil incl. Pix).
- US: Open banking Pay by Bank is still emerging; instant payments (RTP®, FedNow®) are separate rails. Plaid and others offer data; payment initiation coverage varies.
All Pay by Bank & PIS Aggregators
API aggregators that offer Payment Initiation or Pay by Bank. Click through for full profiles, bank coverage, and docs.
How to Choose a Pay by Bank API
Consider: Geography (which countries and rails you need), bank coverage (number of banks and success rates), features (one-off only vs VRP, payouts, instant verification), pricing (per transaction, monthly, minimums), and integration (API-only vs hosted/embedded UI).
For a step-by-step overview of implementing Pay by Bank, see Payment Initiation Services (PIS) and VRP Open Banking.
Pay by Bank APIs FAQ
A Pay by Bank API is an interface that lets merchants initiate payments directly from a customer’s bank account (account-to-account or A2A). Under open banking rules (e.g. PSD2 in Europe), licensed Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) use bank APIs so customers can pay at checkout without a card, with lower fees and fast settlement.
Leading Pay by Bank API providers include TrueLayer and Yapily (UK/EU), Tink (Europe, Visa-owned), Plaid (global, strong in US and EU), Volt (global real-time), Neonomics (Europe, 3,500+ banks), Token.io (A2A infrastructure), GoCardless (global bank payments and Embed), Adyen (Pay by Bank in UK, DE, FR), Salt Edge (global), and Belvo (Latin America). Choice depends on region, bank coverage, and whether you need one-off payments, VRP, or payouts.
Pay by Bank typically costs 0.1–0.5% per transaction (or a fixed fee per payment, e.g. Adyen’s ~£0.11 + €0.50). This is usually much lower than card fees (1.5–3%). Pricing varies by provider, volume, and region; many use a mix of per-transaction and monthly or minimum fees.
Pay by Bank is strongest in the UK and EEA (PSD2), with Faster Payments and SEPA. Brazil (Pix), Australia (CDR action initiation), and other regulated markets also support it. In the US, instant payments (RTP, FedNow) are separate rails; open banking Pay by Bank is still emerging. Provider coverage varies by country and bank.
Pay by Bank usually refers to one-off payments at checkout. VRP is a recurring form of payment initiation: the customer sets a mandate once, and the merchant can initiate variable amounts within agreed limits without re-authenticating every time. VRP is available in the UK (mandated for sweeping, expanding for commercial) and coming in the EU under PSD3/PSR.
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