NatWest Helps Businesses Replace Cheque Use With Open Banking Payments

NatWest has today announced the launch of a major development to its flagship open banking payments service, Payit by NatWest, that will allow businesses to send payments directly to customers without needing their bank details – an industry first.

The feature aims to replace the use of cheques and bank transfers when sending money to customers, allowing for instant payments to be made when issuing refunds or customer service payments, as well as for specific uses such as compensation payments and emergency cash requirements.

The enhancement uses the Faster Payments framework, which allows payments of up to £250,000 to be made, typically within a matter of seconds. This presents a marked improvement to the current cheque cashing process where consumers often have to visit a branch to access the funds. The bank has also announced today that major transport provider, Northern, is the latest UK business to offer Payit as an option for its customers.

James Hodgson, Payit by NatWest said: “The need for businesses to send their customers money often occurs at the most crucial moments, and yet the typical methods can be slow, inefficient and expensive. We’re aiming to transform that experience with Payit, which now allows businesses to send payments that are credited to customer accounts in a matter of seconds, and all without the need for their bank details. With Payit now having processed over 200,000 fast, simple and safe transactions for our existing business customers, NatWest is looking forward to helping many more of the UK’s top businesses and their customers send and receive money in 2021.”

Payit launched in early 2020, initially allowing businesses to collect payments from customers online using open banking. With today’s announcement adding a feature that allows businesses to send a payment to consumers, NatWest is the first UK bank to allow parties to pay each other using this technology.

The bank has partnered with a variety of businesses to launch Payit in recent months, and it now counts the likes of Vanquis Bank, the Captain Tom Foundation, and FreeAgent amongst the providers offering the service to customers.

NatWest aims to continue innovating Payit further throughout 2021, with plans to enhance its open banking compatibility by launching an API proposition, allowing merchants to integrate Payit directly with their own technology infrastructures, resulting in a simpler, more seamless experience for customers.