Lloyds Bank has announced its latest payments offering for businesses looking to make one-off transactions to accounts when no bank details are known or available.
There is no need for Lloyds partners to gather account information when dealing with money transfers, as they can now request a payment link to be sent to the payee by a multitude of communication channels.
Through the Lloyds PayMe tool, once a payment has been approved, a secure link is sent to the beneficiary via email, an SMS or a QR code so that they can fill in their account details for automatic verification to receive the funds directly.
The bank cited several use cases where it believes PayMe can make a difference for businesses, such as one-time vendor payments, goodwill gestures, compensation payouts, refunds, hardship payments, volunteer expenses and grants.
Stephen Everett, Managing Director of Cash Management & Payments at Lloyds Bank, said: “We’ve developed this service to support our clients in driving efficiencies in their business while further enhancing the customer experience they’re providing.
“Payment solutions in the market today generally use Bacs for a three-day settlement or the need to send a physical cheque. Through Lloyds Bank PayMe, companies can send funds to customers, clients, or suppliers easily and within minutes, and there is no need to capture and store account details for one-off payments.”
One of the first customers to implement the new Lloyds tool is Scotland’s publicly-owned water supplier – Scottish Water, which expects to see improved turnaround times for payments as an alternative to the usual 10-day waiting period.
Brian Lironi, Director of Corporate Affairs at Scottish Water, commented: “Our customers are at the heart of what we do, and we want to ensure every engagement with us is excellent.
“We believe that PayMe will provide a huge benefit to our customers in terms of payment times and data handling. In circumstances where service standard payments are required, customers will now be able to receive them far faster and in a more convenient manner.”
