This week we welcome Trustly and Hope Macy as the newest shareholders of UK Payments Initiative. UKPI’s 23 founding shareholders span tier one incumbent banks, leading digital first banks, and a wide range of open banking payment providers and fintechs.

By subscribing, Trustly and Hope Macy join our other shareholders in a shared commitment to accelerating open banking adoption and building the infrastructure that allows it to reach its full potential in the UK. This comes alongside the announcement at Mansion House today of a consultation on access rights for variable recurring payments, and granting FCA powers to support commercial open banking schemes, providing the statutory and regulatory foundation for further expansion of UKPI’s commercial model.

Richard Koch, Managing Director of UK Payments Initiative, said:
“We’re delighted to welcome Trustly and Hope Macy into UK Payments Initiative shareholding. Their expertise, innovation and commitment to advancing open banking payments will strengthen our growing community of shareholders and help us build an even broader, more representative voice for the industry.”

As our shareholder community continues to grow, so does the breadth of expertise and experience helping to inform our work. We are looking forward to seeing the use cases implemented in partnership with these two firms and our other shareholders.

New UK payment scheme will enable widespread adoption of account-to-account payments under government’s National Payments Vision 

London, UK – 2 June 2026 – Today at Money2020, UK Payments Initiative Ltd (UKPI) launched a scheme designed for the next-generation of open banking payments, marking a turning point in the availability of alternatives to traditional card-based and direct debit payments. 

Open banking payments have grown rapidly in recent years, with more than 37 million payments processed per month according to industry data – but most of these are one-off payments. The new industry-led scheme changes that, enabling recurring and automated payments to businesses and government, in a way that is consistent, scalable, and designed for widespread adoption. 

For consumers, this means being able to approve regular or variable payments directly from their bank account without sharing card details or relying on traditional direct debit. Payments can only be taken within the limits agreed by the consumer, giving them greater control over who can collect money, how much can be taken, and how long that permission lasts. 

Developed collaboratively with banks and fintechs, UKPI’s scheme establishes a shared rulebook, commercial model and operational standards for flexible, automated, or recurring account-to-account payments, powered by open banking.  These payments can be used initially for payments to the government, utilities, charities, financial services, and more.  

Richard Koch, Managing Director, UK Payments Initiative said: “This marks a defining moment for the next evolution of payments in the United Kingdom. This is about creating a payment model that works better for everyone, giving people more control and reducing friction for businesses. Our commercial approach will allow us to develop from these first customer journeys to subscription models and wider ecommerce.” 

Consumer trust is foundational to the scheme’s design and the framework also includes safeguards and dispute processes to protect consumers and support trust across participants.

By launching and participating in the scheme, banks and fintechs are working together to reduce payment costs for businesses, streamline payment friction, and enhance security for consumers, while unlocking new opportunities for innovation across the UK economy. 

The new scheme is also intended to support the ambitions set out in the UK Government’s National Payments Vision by enabling new use cases for open banking payments at scale.  

The participation of major UK banks and building societies alongside fintech firms reflects the breadth of support behind the company. The scheme’s rulebook has been finalised between participating institutions, with the initiative now moving into market rollout after successful live proving. 

ENDS

About UK Payments Initiative Ltd (UKPI)

UK Payments Initiative Ltd (UKPI) is an industry-led company established to develop and operate a commercial scheme for variable recurring payments (VRPs) in the UK. Working with participating banks and ecosystem partners, UKPI is enabling secure, scalable account-to-account payment capabilities that support new commercial use cases for open banking.

By establishing shared rules, commercial models and operational standards, UKPI aims to create a sustainable account-to-account payments scheme and a viable alternative to traditional card-based payment models. The company supports the broader ambitions of the UK Government’s National Payments Vision to encourage innovation, competition and resilience across the UK payments landscape.

Founding shareholders include:

Acquired

Atoa

Barclays

Crezco

Fire

Fumopay

GoCardless

HSBC

Lloyds Banking Group

Modulr

Monzo

Nationwide

NatWest

PayPoint

Plaid

Revolut

Salt Edge

Santander

Starling

Token.io

Truelayer

Wonderful

Yapily

Further details on participation and implementation timelines will be made available at www.ukpaymentsinitiative.co.uk.