Tink to join Europe’s SEPA Payment Account Access scheme

By Gloria Methri

Payment services and data enrichment platform Tink, has entered the official register to become one of the first participants of the European Payments Council’s newly launched SEPA Payment Account Access (SPAA) scheme.

SPAA aims to unlock the opportunities of open data access while ensuring that banks are sufficiently incentivised to invest in maintaining application programming interfaces (APIs) and (real-time) payments infrastructure.

Tink has been a founding member of the SPAA Multi-stakeholder Group (SPAA MSG) since 2019. Five years in the making, the launch of the SPAA Rulebook and Scheme Default Fees in November 2023 represented a watershed movement for account-to-account (A2A) payments in the European Union.

The rulebook sets a standard for an industry-led approach to build upon the twin opportunities of open banking and instant payments.

Andrew Boyajian, Tink’s VP of Payments, and Customer Experience said, “Having played a key role in shaping SPAA to this point, it is brilliant to be among the first participants to join the scheme.

“From the very first industry discussions five years ago to create SPAA, Tink has been convinced that a sustainable and commercial model that benefits all parties was key to realising compelling and competitive A2A payment solutions. But this is just the start. We encourage banks and other third-party Providers to join us in SPAA and help bring about a new era in A2A, delivering choice and innovation to European payments.”

Through more than 6,000 connections to banks, Tink provides payments, banking, and lending solutions that power the new world of finance – whether that’s making account-to-account payments, onboarding new users, making better risk decisions, or creating engaging money management tools. A wholly owned subsidiary of Visa, Tink was founded in Stockholm in 2012 as a pioneer of open banking.