Brite Payments has received its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It will now begin a phased roll-out of its account-to-account (A2A) payments product for UK merchants and consumers. Through a single API integration, UK businesses will be able to accept Pay by Bank payments domestically and across the company's European network. They will not need to manage separate local providers or legacy contracts, according to the announcement.
Extending a European network to the UK
Brite Payments has run its Pay by Bank business since 2019. It connects to more than 3,800 banks across 27 European markets and supports instant payments and payouts. Its infrastructure combines local payment rails, Open Banking, and its own Brite Instant Payments Network (IPN). The company is backed by UK-based venture capital firm Dawn Capital.
The UK has more than 15 million Open Banking users, which the company says places it among the most active Open Banking markets in Europe. Brite Payments argues, however, that merchant infrastructure has not kept pace with adoption. In its view, many legacy A2A providers were built for a single market. As transaction volumes and geographic complexity grow, those providers struggle with fragmented technical standards, inconsistent settlement times, and limited support capacity.
Brite Payments’ founder and CEO, Lena Hackelöer, said the UK market has been dominated by overseas card networks and single-market legacy providers. She presented the launch as a way for UK merchants to offer Pay by Bank to domestic and European customers in a post-Brexit environment.
Survey data on checkout friction
Alongside the launch, Brite Payments published a survey of 2,000 UK adults conducted on its behalf by market research firm Appinio. Nearly half of respondents (47%) reported frustration at online checkout, and one in six said they had sworn or shouted at the screen. Concerns about returns also shaped behaviour. Some 24% had avoided a purchase entirely, and 15% said they bought less to limit the money tied up in potential refunds.
The findings point to reputational as well as transactional consequences for merchants. Some 19% said they would blacklist a retailer with poor payment options, and 17% had warned friends and family away from particular retailers. A further 23% had abandoned a purchase to avoid retrieving their physical card.
Failed payments were also common. A quarter of respondents had experienced a failed payment because of an input error, an expired card, or a security check issue. Just under one in ten said such problems had led them to switch to another retailer. The company estimates that the average UK adult spends an hour a year completing checkout forms. Across the UK's banked adult population, that amounts to more than 55 million hours annually.
Implications for UK merchants
The survey also suggests some consumer interest in regional payment providers. More than 60% of respondents said they would prefer a provider that is not exposed to disruption caused by problems in another country. Some 58% said they would actively choose a UK or European company over an overseas alternative. Awareness of Pay by Bank appears high, with 76% of respondents saying they were familiar with the method.
For enterprise merchants operating across borders, the launch offers access to UK and European A2A payments through one integration. It targets the settlement and fragmentation issues that Brite Payments identifies in the existing market. The company has not disclosed the timeline or scope of the phased roll-out.
