Bottomline simplifies online payments with launch of Pay Direct

By Megha Bhattacharya

FinTech Bottomline announced the launch of Pay Direct today. The company stated that the new Open Banking payment initiation service is expected to offer companies a better way to receive online payment from customers. Pay Direct is an alternative to the payment methods available and aims to simplify payments for merchants and customers.

“We’re delivering the promise of Open Banking and its winning propositions for both the merchants trading online and their customers,” commented Nigel Savory, Managing Director of Europe at Bottomline. “Pay Direct adds faster and cheaper settlement options for businesses and creates streamlined customer experiences for those making direct digital payments between their banks and the businesses they buy from.”

According to Bottomline, Pay Direct enables online businesses to receive funds directly from the payer’s bank account via Faster Payments. The payer can initiate the payment from their trusted bank application while remaining in the business’ online journey. The solution aims to increase the options that companies have for managing cash collections by adding Open Banking transfers to Direct Debits and card processing. The company has connected to the majority of the UK banks in a bid to maximise its coverage of the payer population.

“This is a great example of Open Banking, giving merchants the ability to receive instant payments from their customers,” said David Beardmore, Ecosystem Development Director, Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE). “It is encouraging to see that despite these challenging times, we have companies like Bottomline in our thriving ecosystem who are leveraging Open Banking technology to deliver greater value and improved choice.”