Volume Payments Limited has received FCA authorisation as an Authorised Payment Institution, enabling it to deliver regulated payment services directly in the UK.
UK-based Volume Payments Limited, a payment platform operating across bank rails, has received authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Authorised Payment Institution, with firm reference number 1041206. The authorisation allows Volume to provide regulated payment services under its own licence rather than through regulated partner arrangements, which had been the basis of its UK operations to date.
From distributor to licensed operator
Volume had previously distributed payment services through regulated partners while building its compliance, safeguarding, and open banking infrastructure. The FCA authorisation represents a structural shift: the company now holds its own regulatory licence in the UK, giving merchants and partners a direct relationship with a regulated entity rather than an intermediary arrangement.
The transition also affects how Volume manages its European operations. The company will retain its European distributor arrangements to continue serving clients across EU jurisdictions, maintaining coverage on both sides of the regulatory boundary without requiring a separate EU licence at this stage.
Regulated activities and their significance
The four authorisations cover the full lifecycle of a bank-to-bank payment transaction.
Payment Initiation Services allow Volume to instruct a bank to make a payment directly from a customer's account on their behalf, with the customer's consent, bypassing card networks entirely. This is the mechanism underlying Volume's one-click checkout product and is regulated under the UK's Payment Services Regulations 2017.
Merchant acquiring authorises Volume to contract directly with merchants to accept and process payment transactions, safeguard incoming funds, and manage the settlement relationship — a function previously requiring a third-party acquirer.
Payouts covers the outbound leg: disbursing those safeguarded funds to merchants at their direction, completing the acquiring cycle under a single licence.
Account Information Services allow Volume to access customer bank account data -such as balances and transaction history - with consent, supporting data-enriched payment flows, affordability checks, and onboarding processes.
Together, these four authorisations represent a complete open banking payment stack under a single FCA licence, removing the need to route any element of the payment cycle through a third-party regulated entity.
Platform capabilities and target market
Volume's platform is designed to enable payment acceptance at a lower cost than card-based infrastructure. Its primary product is a one-click checkout mechanism built on Payment Initiation Services, allowing consumers to pay directly from their bank accounts without entering card details. This model bypasses card network fees and reduces checkout friction for merchants seeking lower-cost alternatives to card acquiring.
With FCA authorisation, Volume can now offer this capability alongside merchant acquiring, payout disbursement, and account information services directly to UK merchants, expanding its addressable market among small and medium-sized enterprises and enterprise clients operating in or connected to the UK market.
