HSBC first to make sweeping Variable Recurring Payments service available to open banking customers

By Gaia Lamperti

This morning, HSBC UK announced the rollout of the sweeping variable recurring payments (VRPs) service to all its personal and business customers who use open banking services. The bank is the first to complete the managed rollout process since the Competition and Markets Authority’s 31/07 deadline that asked all the country’s biggest banks to implement it.

“Sweeping VRPs allow for the automated movement of funds between a customer’s own accounts without the need for any manual intervention once the initial consent is setup,” commented George Miltiadious, head of Open Banking Channel Management (UK) at HSBC. “This service can, for example, be used to pay off a monthly credit card bill, move money regularly into a savings account, or reduce an overdraft balance.”

What are VRPs?

Variable Recurring Payments ( are automated payments from account to account that are enabled by open banking and allow businesses and consumers to schedule recurring payments of varying amounts, without the need to re-authenticate every transaction.

The most immediate use case for this technology is me-to-me transfers of money – for example, from a current account to a savings one – however, VRPs could open the door to yet more exciting use cases in the world of e-commerce.

In times of cost of living rising, consumers across the UK have started to demand  for better ways to manage their money with convenience and ease and VRP could offer a solution as they allow more control and transparency with transfers than existing alternatives, such as direct debit payments. This new technology could indeed automatically move money from one account to another with a higher interest rate and pay debts directly.

Who are the players in the UK?

GoCardless, Plaid, Yapily and Truelayer are among third party suppliers to have launched VRP offerings as part of their open banking playbook. “We’re looking forward to working with third party providers to drive sweeping adoption for the benefit of consumers across the UK,” added Miltiadious.

Siamac Rezaiezadeh, Director of Product Marketing at GoCardless, believes this means we are one step closer to helping merchants realise the benefits of instant, recurring bank payments, and enabling consumers to save more and pay down debt.

“We’re excited to see the first UK bank come online with Variable Recurring Payments. We’re one step closer to helping merchants realise the benefits of instant, recurring bank payments, and enabling consumers to save more and pay down debt — top priorities for all of us during this cost-of-living crisis,” he said.

“Three things need to happen next. First, we need to drive greater adoption of VRPs amongst businesses that fall within the sweeping use case. Second, we want to see more banks launching VRPs to their account holders. Only then can we spread the benefits of VRPs to as many people as possible. And lastly, everyone in the ecosystem needs to promote this technology to drive consumer awareness. This will all take time, but this announcement from HSBC is proof positive that we are moving in the right direction. We hope more banks will follow on soon.”