NatWest Group has become the first bank in the UK to sign agreements with payment providers to offer Variable Recurring Payments.
In Brief:
It has signed agreements with payments providers TrueLayer, GoCardless and Crezco to offer VRP.
Retail customers will be able to set up variable recurring payments for services like utility bills and subscriptions.
As part of open banking developments, VRP is also being offered in support of “sweeping” with is the automatic transfer of money between two accounts belonging to the same person.
What does this mean?
Going beyond sweeping, NatWest is the first bank in the UK to set up VRP agreements with payments providers so customers have the option to set up payments to external parties like utilities. So far, customers have only been able to consent to single immediate payments through Open Banking but now these can happen regularly.
Duncan Barrigan, Chief Product Officer and Chief Growth Officer at GoCardless, said: "VRPs will be a game-changer for businesses and consumers alike. From sweeping, which will help us make our money work harder without the hassle, to use cases beyond 'me-to-me' where merchants can take advantage of this digital-first, cost-effective payment method, VRPs will make 'account-on-file' the next big trend in payments.
“Working with NatWest, with its advanced VRP capabilities, will help us accelerate our vision of building the world's first bank payment network to help businesses access a range of account-to-account payments methods, from direct debit to VRPs, in a single platform."
