Following today’s announcement from the Financial Conduct Authority on the formation of the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI), TrueLayer has announced that its Chief Operating Officer, Rob Kerrigan, has been elected to sit on the board of the new organisation.

The UK Payments Initiative will deliver variable recurring payments (VRP), a seamless alternative to card-on-file and direct debits, and support the next phase of Pay by Bank adoption across the UK. TrueLayer joins 30 other firms across the payments ecosystem — including all major retail banks in the UK — in funding and supporting this new initiative, with the first live payments under the UKPI scheme to take place early next year.

VRP enables businesses to collect payments directly from a customer’s bank account on an ongoing basis, with the customer’s consent. At TrueLayer, we refer to VRP functionality as “Bank on file” because it deliberately echoes what it is intended to replace: card on file.

VRP (aka “Bank on file”) allows customers to securely authorise future Pay by Bank payments once, enabling recurring transactions such as subscriptions, one-click checkout and usage-based billing without relying on stored card details. It provides consumers with more flexibility and control over their payments, ensuring fewer failed transactions and lower costs for businesses. VRP (aka “Bank on file”) is widely seen as a key enabler for scaling Pay by Bank in ecommerce.

Rob Kerrigan, COO at TrueLayer, said:

“The establishment of the UK Payments Initiative is a major step forward for Pay by Bank and for the UK payments landscape. Just as important, however, is the level of collaboration between banks and payment providers to turn VRP (aka “Bank on file”) into a viable commercial model, driven by a shared ambition to make real progress in this space.

Like other European countries that have adopted A2A payment methods as standard, Pay by Bank in the UK - powered by open banking - is now moving quickly toward commercial adoption at scale. VRP is the essential next step towards reducing the UK’s long-term reliance on incumbents such as Visa and Mastercard. Merchant demand is clear, and today marks a significant step towards making this a reality.”

Note to editors:

For a detailed explainer of the features and potentials of VRP (aka “Bank on file”), see here: https://truelayer.com/blog/recurring-payments/what-on-earth-is-vrp/

About TrueLayer

TrueLayer, based in London and founded in 2016 by Francesco Simoneschi and Luca Martinetti, is Europe’s fastest growing payments network and the leader in ‘Pay by Bank’ payments. We power smarter, safer and faster online payments by combining real-time bank payments with financial and identity data. Businesses use our products to onboard new users, accept money and make payouts in seconds, and at scale. We’re live across 22 countries and more than 20 million users trust us to process their transactions. Though we’re not stopping here. We’re on a mission to change the way the world pays. And we won’t stop until we’ve unlocked the full potential of payments.