Wollette, an integrated commerce platform connecting merchants, consumers, and banks, has partnered with Yapily to use its open banking infrastructure to keep customer wallet balances automatically funded, supporting a one-tap, account-to-account payment experience.
Addressing friction from manual top-ups
Wollette offers consumers an interest-bearing wallet for saving and spending, alongside a set of open banking tools for merchants, including point-of-sale functionality, digital receipts, loyalty programmes, and data analytics. The platform combines the convenience associated with card payments with the lower cost structure of account-to-account payments.
According to Wollette, this model depends on wallets holding sufficient funds at the point of purchase. Manual top-ups can reintroduce friction that the one-tap payment experience is designed to remove, and a low balance can result in a declined payment or a customer defaulting to a card, which increases acceptance costs for merchants.
How the automated funding works
Wollette uses Yapily's sweeping Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) capability to fund wallets automatically in the background. During setup, a customer authorises automatic transfers from their own bank account into their Wollette wallet and sets a balance threshold that triggers a transfer. When the wallet balance falls below that threshold, funds are moved automatically if available, without requiring a manual transfer or repeated authentication.
Because the transfers occur between the customer's own accounts, the customer determines the transfer limits and can review or revoke the arrangement through their bank at any time. The same mechanism extends to online transactions through Wollette's pay-by-link functionality, giving merchants a consistent payment method across in-store and online channels.
Implications for merchants and consumers
For consumers, the wallet remains funded for one-tap use, with Strong Customer Authentication applied during initial setup. For merchants, the companies said the arrangement is intended to lower acceptance costs by settling more payments through bank rails rather than card networks, reduce failed or abandoned payments by ensuring wallets are funded ahead of checkout, and provide a consistent payment experience across point-of-sale and online channels, alongside access to Wollette's loyalty and data tools.
Company commentary
A company official said the partnership is intended to support the growth of Pay by Bank as a practical, everyday payment method for consumers, while giving merchants a lower-cost, better-controlled way to accept payments. The company said combining Wollette's retail-focused platform with Yapily's open banking infrastructure gives merchants a more efficient payment mechanism and provides consumers with a wallet that funds itself automatically.
Broader context
The partnership reflects continued growth in adoption of Pay by Bank and open banking-based payment methods across retail, as providers look to combine automated funding mechanisms with account-to-account payment infrastructure to reduce reliance on card networks. As adoption of this payment method increases, maintaining reliably funded wallets is likely to become an increasingly relevant factor for platforms competing in this space.
