Smarkets: Enabling instant deposits with open banking

Smarkets is a betting exchange that offers a secure and transparent platform for trading on sporting, political and other events.

The company was founded in 2008 to facilitate peer-to-peer betting where users set their own odds and bet against each other, not only before an event starts but right up until the end of any event.

Smarkets wanted to find a payments provider that could remove unnecessary cost and friction from transactions. To achieve this, they partnered with TrueLayer.

The challenge

The team at Smarkets pride themselves on having an innovative product with a great user experience, but were frustrated by the lack of transparency and control existing payment providers gave them. Traditional methods like bank transfers are time-consuming and prone to human error, which made it difficult to reconcile deposits to user accounts, while cards and e-wallets also charge expensive interchange fees.

“

Previously, card withdrawal times took up to six business days, which isn’t a great user experience. We also have traders who make high value transactions and we found TrueLayer's pricing much more cost effective.

Cicely Robinson

Data Scientist

The solution

Smarkets began using the Payments API to facilitate bank-to-bank payments, which meant users could top up and access funds instantly, in real-time, without having to enter card details or share their bank credentials.

With the Payments API, funds are transferred directly between bank accounts rather than through a separate payment network, which minimises cost and processing times.

Payment authorisation takes place directly with the bank, making the entire process extremely secure, with no need for the user to enter their card or account details. This also enables Smarkets to lock deposit references, removing the burden of reconciliation.

“

Together, we’re cutting out the middlemen, enabling customers to transfer directly from their bank account to ours.

Cicely Robinson

Data Scientist

The results

The benefits of the partnership have been two-fold for the team at Smarkets, with users getting instant access to funds to make faster decisions, and Smarkets saving on
transaction fees.

“

We love working with TrueLayer. The team is really reactive compared to other providers. If something goes wrong, TrueLayer responds fast.

Cicely Robinson

Data Scientist