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The retail banking giant’s open banking payments tool, Payit, has hit the £1bn in processed payments milestone — two years after it launched.
"Speed and cash flow management are critical for everyone, whether you’re a business or a consumer,” commented Payit chief executive Mike Elliff as the payment tool passed the milestone.
Payit was launched in 2020 and, at the time, was the first open banking payments solution launched by a UK bank.
It allows businesses and consumers to send and receive money securely without having to share any bank details.
"Payit has always been at the forefront of payments technology, built from scratch to meet the demands of the modern business environment, Payit has been leading the industry since its inception in 2020,” said Elliff. “In just over two years, it’s helped businesses of all sizes send and receive payments, as well as establish itself as an integral part of the online payments ecosystem.”
The Payit platform was built by UK-based fintech Pollinate. The company built the pilot for Payit alongside public technology company Endava.
At the time, Pollinate said that it reduced the cost of online payments by at least 25 percent, based on an average transaction of £80.
According to NatWest, it has now handled more than 5m payment transactions, averaging £200 in value, removing the need for a card for a "slicker, more intuitive customer journey", while reducing exposure to fraud and limiting transaction fees.
“We are immensely proud to hit this milestone and demonstrate the value that Open Banking technology has on businesses and the public,” said Elliff.
The Payit platform has been a testing ground for NatWest’s open banking innovations since its launch two years ago. For example, NatWest used it to launch open banking refunds.
Now, it is serving another purpose for innovation, as the financial institution will pilot a variable recurring payments (VRP) functionality, following NatWest’s VRP demonstration with fintech TrueLayer in December last year.
Despite this significant milestone, Payit has a long way to go before it dents the dominance of cards. In 2020, £839bn was spent by UK cardholders, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
