yapily

Yapily has released its Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) API as the payments continue to play a key role within Open Banking.

One of Yapily’s first customers has been cleared to be checkout payments platform Volume, which will use VRPs to challenge standing orders and direct debit payments.

Simone Martinelli, Founder and CEO at Volume, said: “VRPs have triggered the next wave of disruption at the checkout. It is the direct debit equivalent of open banking, except where the movement of money is quicker, cheaper, and the customer has more control. This has the potential to be transformative for any business. 

“At Volume, we are on a mission to remove hidden fees at the online checkout for both consumers and merchants, and Yapily is helping us to turn that vision into a reality.”

If more insight is to be brought as to how VRPs – or sweeping payments work, they allow consumers and businesses to set recurring payments regardless of the amount through open banking, removing the need for authorisation each time. Reasons can vary from bank account transfers to subscriptions and household bills. 

Maria Palmieri, Director of Public Policy at Yapily, said: “We have seen a positive response from industry to the implementation of sweeping, however, only when VRP APIs become more widely available will the truly innovative use cases for open banking be unlocked. 

“This will not only enable better and fairer financial services for everyone, but will also lead to increased adoption from both consumers and businesses. Now, more collaboration between banks, third-party providers, and policymakers is needed to ensure the transition from me-to-me to me-to-business payments materialises.”

To ensure that it achieves optimal reach with its latest VRP API, Yapily has teamed up with Ozone API, whose partnership network includes worldwide banks and financial institutions.

Huw Davies, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Ozone API, shared this on the partnership: “We founded Ozone API when we saw how difficult, expensive, and time-consuming it can be for banks and financial institutions to deliver high quality and standards-based APIs. 

“Partnering with Yapily means we can now deliver the benefits of VRP to these firms, enabling them to build deeper customer relationships, reduce losses to payments fraud, and ultimately generate new revenue streams. 

“Together with Yapily, we have everything a bank needs to switch on and monetise this opportunity. Now that the CMA VRP for sweeping deadline has passed for the UK’s nine largest banks, it’s our mission to ensure that no bank gets left behind.”

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) introduced the decision to mandate the use of VRPs in July last year, with the deadline for the UK’s nine largest banks to implement them pushed back several times to be finally set for 31st July of this year. 

Ben Aier, VP of Product at Yapily, concluded by saying that the tech is “breaking down the barriers to innovation.”

She added: “This is a great example of how Yapily and open banking are helping to create a healthy payments ecosystem where there is value for every participant. We are proud to be meeting the evolving needs of banks, merchants, PSPs, businesses, and consumers alike.”