Pay by bank is the checkout face of Open Banking: paying online straight from your bank account instead of typing in card details. UK Open Banking payments reached 351 million in 2025, up 57%, around 7.9% of Faster Payments (Open Banking Limited). The real story for merchants is the trade-off: pay by bank can be cheaper than cards and settles fast, but it does not carry card-style buyer protection.
How to read this page
Pay by bank (also account-to-account, or A2A) is an Open Banking payment made at checkout, moving money directly from the shopper's bank account with no card.
It settles over Faster Payments, so the figures here overlap with the wider Open Banking totals rather than sitting alongside them.
The volumes are reported by Open Banking Limited as a share of Faster Payments, not as a share of online retail, so we label the denominator carefully.
Data period: 2025 – 2025-12·Last reviewed: 2 Jun 2026·Quarterly updates·Sources: Open Banking Implementation Entity
1.
UK pay by bank at a glance
The volume of Open Banking payments behind pay by bank, the growth rate, and how widely it has been adopted.
Open Banking payments (2025)
351m
▲ 57% year on year2025
UK Open Banking payments, which power pay by bank at checkout, reached 351 million in 2025, up 57% on the year.
Open Banking Limited2026
Share of Faster Payments (volume)
7.9%
of FP volumeMar 2025
Open Banking was 7.9% of Faster Payments by volume in March 2025. This is a share of all Faster Payments, not of online retail specifically.
Open Banking Limited2025
Active user connections
16.5m
▲ risingDec 2025
By December 2025, 16.5 million active connections linked UK bank accounts to Open Banking apps and services, the base pay by bank draws on.
Open Banking Limited2025
Merchant cost vs cards
Lower
no interchangestructural
Pay by bank can avoid card interchange and scheme fees, so for many transactions it costs a merchant less to accept than a card.
Business Expert analysis2026
2.
How big pay by bank has become
Pay by bank rides the same fast-growing Open Banking curve. The headline volumes are shared with the wider Open Banking total.
UK Open Banking payments, behind pay by bank
Measure
Value
Period
Open Banking payments
351m
2025
Annual growth
+57%
2024 to 2025
Share of Faster Payments (volume)
7.9%
Mar 2025
Active user connections
16.5m
Dec 2025
Source: Open Banking Limited, Impact Report. These are total Open Banking figures; pay by bank is the checkout use case within them. The full rail-level view is on the Open Banking page.Checked 2 Jun 2026
What this means
Pay by bank is growing fast but is still a small share of online payments next to cards and wallets. For the rail-level detail, including how Open Banking settles over Faster Payments, see UK Open Banking payments statistics. For the broader checkout mix, see UK e-commerce statistics.
3.
Pay by bank versus cards at the checkout
The choice between pay by bank and cards is a set of trade-offs, not a clear winner. Each suits different transactions.
How the two compare for a merchant
Feature
Pay by bank
Card
Cost to merchant
Lower (no interchange or scheme fees)
Higher (merchant service charge)
Settlement speed
Fast, over Faster Payments
Slower, often with holds
Chargebacks
None
Yes
Buyer protection
Limited
Section 75 and chargeback rights
Checkout flow
Redirect to the bank app
Enter card details
Source: Business Expert analysis of payment-method features. Card protection detail: Section 75 applies to credit card purchases between £100 and £30,000.Checked 2 Jun 2026
Cheaper for the merchant is not always better for the customer. Pay by bank removes card fees, but it also removes the chargeback and Section 75 protections that customers rely on for disputes and big-ticket purchases. The right default depends on the transaction, not just the cost.
4.
When pay by bank makes sense for your business
Pay by bank shines on specific transaction types. It is a complement to card acceptance, not yet a replacement.
Where it fits best
Higher-value payments. The fee saving versus a percentage-based card charge is largest on big transactions, where pay by bank can cut acceptance cost most.
Account top-ups and bills. For loading an account, paying an invoice or settling a bill, buyer protection matters less and instant settlement matters more.
Repeat and trusted purchases. Where the customer already trusts the merchant, the lack of chargeback protection is less of a barrier.
Offer it alongside cards. Most merchants add pay by bank as an option rather than replacing cards. Compare ways to offer both in our payment processing guide.
2025 payments
351m
+57% year on year
Best fit
Higher value
Bills, top-ups, trusted buys
5.
Reading the pay by bank numbers correctly
Two cautions keep the figures honest: the share denominator, and the overlap with the wider Open Banking total.
Share of Faster Payments, not of online retail
Open Banking Limited publishes pay by bank volumes as a share of Faster Payments (7.9% in March 2025), not as a share of online retail checkouts. Because Faster Payments includes salaries, transfers and bill payments, that base is far larger than e-commerce alone, so the figure does not tell you pay by bank's share of online shopping. A discrete online-retail share is not yet published, which is why we flag the proxy.
Pay by bank sits inside the Open Banking total, not beside it. The 351 million payments here are the same payments counted on the Open Banking page. Pay by bank is the checkout use case within Open Banking, so the figures should not be added together as if they were separate channels.
6.
Sources and methodology
Payment volumes and adoption come from Open Banking Limited's published Impact Report data; the card-comparison points from Business Expert analysis of payment-method features.
1 source Source register▾
Source
Publisher
Period covered
Type
Last checked
Open Banking Impact Report
Open Banking Limited
To Dec 2025
Implementation body
2 Jun 2026
How we check the data▾
Volumes from Open Banking Limited
The 351 million payments, 57% growth and 16.5 million connections come from Open Banking Limited's Impact Report, the official source for UK Open Banking activity.
Share figure kept in context
The 7.9% figure is reported as a share of Faster Payments volume. We label it as such and flag that no discrete online-retail share is yet published.
Overlap stated plainly
Pay by bank is the checkout use case within Open Banking, so we note that these figures overlap with the Open Banking page rather than adding to it.
Data integrity
Volumes map to Open Banking Limited. The share figure is kept to its true denominator, the overlap with the Open Banking total is stated, and the card-comparison points are labelled as analysis. Last full review: 2 Jun 2026.
Pay by bank FAQ
Common questions about UK pay by bank
What is pay by bank?
Pay by bank, also called account-to-account or A2A, is an Open Banking payment made at checkout. It moves money directly from the shopper's bank account with no card, and settles over Faster Payments.
How widely is pay by bank used in the UK?
UK Open Banking payments, which power pay by bank, reached 351 million in 2025, up 57% on the year, about 7.9% of Faster Payments by volume (Open Banking Limited). It is growing fast but still small next to cards and wallets.
Is pay by bank cheaper than cards for merchants?
Often, yes. Pay by bank can avoid card interchange and scheme fees and settles fast with no chargebacks, so it can cost a merchant less to accept, especially on higher-value transactions.
Does pay by bank have the same buyer protection as a card?
No. A bank transfer does not carry the chargeback rights or Section 75 protection that card payments provide. That makes pay by bank better suited to bills, top-ups and trusted purchases than to higher-risk big-ticket buys.
Is pay by bank the same as Open Banking?
Pay by bank is the checkout use case within Open Banking. The volumes overlap: the 351 million figure is the same Open Banking payments counted elsewhere, so the two should not be added together.