Nearly one-fifth (19%) of UK consumers intend to increase their adoption of Open Banking payments over the next five years, meaning it will outpace other forms of payment method, according to new research.
The study by emerchantpay, conducted among more than 2,000 UK consumers, found that cards continue to be the main payment method of choice over the coming five years, with 22% of respondents indicating this would be the case.
Open Banking payments followed closely at 19%, then buy now, pay later (14%), manual bank transfers (13%) and crypto (7%).
The findings are published in a new report by emerchantpay, ‘Chapter one: Open Banking – Pushing the frontiers of payments’.
The study also revealed 51% were unfamiliar with the term ‘Open Banking’, although once they had understood the definition, nearly half of respondents claimed to have used it to make payments.
The research asked consumers in the UK about their purchase intentions, with 42% saying they are likely to use Open Banking for in-store payments and 37% likely to make online payments this way.
The most popular types of purchases for Open Banking payments are online retail purchases, such as utility bills and airline tickets, emerchantpay found.
Consumers were asked about the different factors influencing their decision to make an online payment, with security (60%) emerging as the leading factor, followed by privacy, at 41%, speed, at 38% and lastly, convenience, cited by 34%.
When questioned about the importance of accessing real-time information about their bank account balance, 85% of respondents said this was important to them.
Stefanie Renz-Schreiner, senior business development manager at emerchantpay, said: “The payments industry is currently experiencing some exciting changes, shaped by new payment innovations enabled by Open Banking.”
emerchantpay has also announced a new partnership with European Open Banking payments network TrueLayer, which will see it offer payments by bank transfer as an online checkout option for merchants across the UK and Europe.
With the solution, merchants’ customers can instantly connect to their online bank account to complete the payment, removing the need to manually input financial details or to set up additional accounts with TrueLayer.
Once the customer verifies the payment through their online banking “environment”, they are automatically redirected to the merchant’s website and the transaction is completed, with the amount instantly deducted from an individual’s account.
Jon Horddal, emerchantpay’s chief product officer, said: “With TrueLayer’s innovative Open Banking network, we are excited to further simplify payments for our merchants and enable them to offer their customers additional modern, secure and convenient ways to pay.”
“By joining forces, we aim to empower emerchantpay’s merchants in the UK and Europe to craft enhanced payment experiences for their customers,” added Mariko Beising, vice president, financial services and partnerships at TrueLayer.
