TL;DR:<\/strong><\/p>\n A customer picks \u201cpay by bank\u201d at checkout, is passed to their own banking app, approves the payment there, and returns to your site. No card number is typed, and the customer never shares banking credentials with you. The regulated firm doing the passing is a payment initiation service provider (PISP), part of the wider group of third-party providers (TPPs) that must be authorised before they can move money on a customer\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n Here is what sits underneath:<\/p>\n You do not build any of this yourself. Your provider handles bank connections and consent screens, while you receive a payment status you can trust. That status arrives quickly, which can help finance teams track payments.<\/p>\n Because the money arrives sooner and the books balance with less effort. Every payment carries a reference, so matching it to an invoice or booking stops being a weekly chore. Customers confirm in their banking app, which removes the usual card failures: expired cards, mistyped numbers, declined authorisations.<\/p>\n The commercial case usually rests on these points:<\/p>\n Typical uses include online checkout, invoice collection, recurring payments through VRPs as they roll out, refunds and payouts, and bank-transfer payment at the point of sale. For a salon or clinic, think deposits taken at booking, which we cover in our guide to accepting payments during the booking flow<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why now? Adoption is no longer a niche experiment.<\/p>\n Adoption keeps growing: 40.16 million open banking payments were made in June 2026 alone, according to Open Banking Limited.<\/strong> Your customers have already used it, whether for utilities, retail or transfers, so asking them to pay by bank is no longer unfamiliar.<\/p>\n Regulation here is a moving target, so plan for it. In its National Payments Vision, the government asked the FCA to become the UK\u2019s open banking regulator, and the FCA\u2019s open finance roadmap (April 2026) aims to have a framework for the first open finance scheme in place by the end of 2027. The FCA and the PSR have coordinated open banking work through a joint committee. The PSR is now being merged into the FCA, subject to legislation, and its APP reimbursement rules stay in force through the transfer.<\/p>\n The rule that affects day-to-day operations most is APP reimbursement. Since 7 October 2024, payment firms must reimburse consumers, micro-enterprises and charities who lose money to qualifying APP scams over Faster Payments or CHAPS, up to \u00a385,000 per claim and usually within five business days. The sending and receiving firms split the cost 50:50. That makes your provider\u2019s compliance your concern too: ask how it handles scam claims and disputes, and how quickly it responds.<\/p>\n Build these into your plan:<\/p>\n Pro Tip:<\/strong> Show your payment and cancellation terms at the point of booking. With Altegio payment policies<\/a>, clients see the deposit amount, the no-show fee and the free cancellation window, and agree to them before they confirm the appointment.<\/em><\/p>\n Treat this as a project with an owner, not a plugin you switch on. Work through it in order:<\/p>\n Some details deserve their own attention:<\/p>\n Compare providers on evidence, not brochures. Keep the process vendor-agnostic and ask for proof in each of these areas:<\/p>\n Run a pilot with agreed acceptance criteria. A minimum viable integration passes if payments confirm promptly, every payment reconciles to an invoice without manual edits, refunds work end to end, and failures show a clear message and a working card fallback. If any item fails, fix it before widening the rollout.<\/p>\n The figures below are the ones we would put in front of a finance director.<\/p>\n\n
\nTable of Contents<\/h2>\n
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How do open banking payments work in the UK?<\/h2>\n
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Why do UK businesses adopt open banking payments?<\/h2>\n
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What do regulation, fraud and security mean for your business?<\/h2>\n
![\"Regulatory](\"https:\/\/alteg.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/open-banking-payments-01.jpeg\")
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What is the practical implementation checklist?<\/h2>\n
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How should you evaluate providers?<\/h2>\n
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What do the UK numbers say?<\/h2>\n