The Deep dive: UK’s Open Banking boom!

By Puja Sharma

The deep dive’ is our bi-weekly exploration of a relevant topic, hot trend, or new product. For Prime subscribers only.

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UK travel spending via Open Banking has jumped 230% in 2025 so far

Trustly, the global Open Banking platform has revealed UK holidaymakers spent 230% more year-on-year on travel in January 2024 using the secure account-to-account payment technology.

January is often the most popular month to book holidays, with many businesses offering discounts at the start of the year. The research shows the growing use of Pay by Banks among both consumers and businesses in the industry.

The growth is based on Trustly’s transaction data from more than 250 travel businesses across Europe that now use its technology. Trustly’s technology has been adopted by some of the world’s largest travel firms, including Booking.com, Etihad Airways, Norwegian Air, KLM, Wizz Air, Air France, and Stena Line. Across Europe, using Pay by Bank to spend on travel has risen by 7% YoY in January. After the UK, the largest increase in spending of any European country has been in Germany with 22% growth compared to the same month last year.

Using Open Banking at the checkout allows travel firms to benefit from lower processing fees, a reduction in chargebacks, and immediate settlement to improve cash flow.

Who is under the radar?

Simon Eve, Vice President of Travel & eCommerce at Trustly UK, highlighted the growing adoption of Open Banking in the travel sector. He emphasised how the industry is leveraging new payment methods to address key financial and operational challenges.

Simon Eve, Vice President of Travel & E-Commerce at Trustly UK, said: “Payments are particularly complicated in the travel industry, where delayed settlements are common, and businesses face a higher fraud risk that drives up cost and increases operational challenges. To tackle this, airlines and hotel providers are now offering Open Banking payment options as well as traditional card payments.

“Open Banking creates multiple efficiencies for firms by reducing processing fees, cutting chargebacks, and allowing significantly faster settlement of payments to improve cashflow. As travel firms typically deal with high-value transactions and long settlement delays, they stand to gain significantly by adopting account-to-account payments. Our figures show this has resulted in an impressive increase in Open Banking transactions compared to previous years.”

Why does it matter now?

The rapid adoption of Pay by Bank as an alternative to credit and debit cards is transforming the travel industry, enabling direct payments between bank accounts. Trustly’s data reveals a 230% surge in UK travel spending via Open Banking in January 2025 compared to the previous year, highlighting its growing traction. With rising transaction costs and settlement delays, travel firms are turning to Open Banking at checkout to reduce processing fees, minimize chargebacks, and accelerate cash flow. As the industry navigates economic pressures and evolving consumer preferences, the need for faster, more cost-effective payment solutions has never been more urgent.