The partnership between Trustly‘s Ecospend subsidiary and financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has been expanded to include new client accounts.
The partnership will allow HL clients to make payments directly into their account with the company without using cards, with transactions authorised by the customer’s preferred app or website-based online banking service, typically using biometric ID.
Ecospend’s solution will be utilised by HL’s ISA and general investment accounts – with the London-based fim’s clients chiefly being in the retail sector – having initially launched for Active Savings clients in May 2023, with over £850m processed so far.
James Hickman, CCO of Ecospend, remarked: “It’s excellent to see the tangible benefits that account-to-account payments can bring to a business such as Hargreaves Lansdown. We’re proud to provide a solution which helps drive efficiency and improves the overall customer experience.
“As a natural replacement for card payments, and a response to changing consumer behaviour and digital adoption, we’re excited to see further benefits realised when the solution is rolled out to every HL client.”
Ecospend expects an adoption rate of 30% among HL ISA and general investment accounts, whilst citing business efficiency and cost saving as the main business benefits of the pay-by-bank solution.
According to Trustly, Ecospend was selected by Hargreaves Lansdown as its partner following an assessment of the UK Open Banking market, taking note of the firm’s partnership with HMRC in 2021.
“We’re dedicated to improving client experience including when making payments into Hargreaves Lansdown accounts,” said George Rodgers, Lead Product Manager of Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Our partnership with Ecospend has proved to be a great success so far with Pay-by- Bank now accounting for 30% of payment volumes where available.
“As a result, we’re now live on mobile and rolling this payment method out to our entire ISA, SIPP and general investment account range, to continue providing solutions that make the payment journey faster, easier for clients, reduce fraud risk and also help improve business efficiency.”
Building on the above mentioned relationship with HMRC, Ecospend further built up its standing in the UK Open Banking sector this month by becoming the first firm on the Crown Commercial Services’ Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).
As a result of this membership, all UK public sector entities can now access the company’s Open Banking solutions to provide citizens and businesses with an alternative method of paying and/or receiving money from the public sector.
Commenting on this, Hickman said: “We are delighted to be the first provider accepted onto the new DPS, and welcome the competition that it will bring. The creation of this DPS will accelerate adoption of Open Banking technology by the public sector, and enable it to benefit from cost and efficiency savings, ultimately bringing more value to the UK taxpayer.
“At Ecospend, we are committed to making financial processes in the public sector more efficient, cost-effective, and user-friendly, and would encourage you to reach out to see how we can work together to better serve the British public.”
Open Banking is a significant and growing part of the UK financial services and fintech industries, with many sector stakeholders and regulators noting its potential both for merchants and consumers.
