Open Banking Limited recently described Pay by Bank as “a big step forward for everyday payment”.¹ That language matters.
For years, account-to-account payments have been presented as cheaper than cards, secure by design and useful only for specific use cases.
What’s changing is how we are now framing Pay by Bank. No longer an “alternative method”, it's everyday behaviour.
But payment habits do not form just because a particular rail exists. They form because the experience is consistent, dependable and predictable under stress. And that depends on infrastructure discipline as much as user experience.
Consumers will not adopt a method repeatedly unless it works every time.
That means enterprise buyers need to look beyond headline cost savings, marketing claims or anecdotal conversion uplift. Instead, they should ask:
- What is the real-world success rate by bank?
- How are timeouts and bank redirects handled?
- What telemetry is available on drop-off stages?
- How are refunds executed and reconciled?
- What happens if the bank app session expires mid-journey?
These questions determine whether Pay by Bank feels like a reliable choice, or still a niche option.
Consent and SCA are strengths when handled properly
Open banking’s architecture embeds explicit consent and strong customer authentication (SCA) at the bank layer.
That is structurally different from credential-based models because it creates:
- inspectable authorisation events,
- reduced stored credential risk,
- clearer evidential trails.
However, habit formation depends on how this is implemented. Poor implementations create friction, typically resulting in unclear redirection flows, inconsistent messaging or unexpected authentication prompts.
Good implementations create clarity:
- simple and predictable bank selection,
- consistent confirmation screens,
- clean post-payment messaging.
The rail provides security, but it's this journey that determines whether customers return.
Governance and commercial models
As Pay by Bank scales, governance is critical.
The FCA has highlighted continued progress in open banking adoption and commercial development, including recurring use cases.² The move toward more structured commercial arrangements - including those for cVRP (Smart Debits) - reflects the industry’s recognition that sustainability requires predictable rules.³
For enterprise buyers, that translates into practical considerations:
- Is pricing stable and transparent?
- Are change controls formalised?
- Is there a scheme-level escalation path?
- How are disputes handled and evidenced?
- What operational SLAs exist around uptime and incident reporting?
Habit formation requires confidence. And that's not just for customers, but for CFOs and compliance teams.
Refunds and reconciliation are the real test
Payments are easy when they succeed. Trust is built when something goes wrong. Enterprise adoption of Pay by Bank increasingly depends on:
- Automated refund capability
- Clear reconciliation files
- Deterministic mapping between customer reference and ledger
- Operational reporting that integrates into finance systems
With this, Pay by Bank becomes embedded behaviour.
If Pay by Bank is to become habitual, it must evolve from a marketing button
to a governed, measurable payment channel. That requires:
- Consistent UX patterns;
- Strong operational telemetry;
- Transparent pricing;
- Mature dispute frameworks;
- Scheme-aligned governance.
The rail itself is not the constraint. The UK already has domestic real-time settlement infrastructure and a mature open banking framework.
The differentiator now is operational discipline.
At Asima, we view Pay by Bank as infrastructure. The question is not whether it works in principle. It is whether it is engineered to scale predictably, because reliability builds habit.
¹ Open Banking Limited. Pay by Bank: a big step forward for everyday payment. 2026. Link
² Financial Conduct Authority. Open banking: a year of progress. 2025. Link
³ Open Banking Limited. An industry first – the UK’s new commercial open banking scheme. 2025. Link
