Powering Smarter Pay-by-Bank in the UK with Visa and Plaid

Zak Lambert
Head of Product, Europe

Today marks a pivotal moment for UK payments. Visa’s new account-to-account (A2A) payments initiative is now ready for market, and Plaid is proud to be part of it as an Open Finance Network. Together, we’re combining Visa’s global trust with Plaid’s UK connectivity to enable a digital-first, secure, and scalable Pay by Bank experience.

This partnership makes one-click, pay-by-bank experiences not just possible, but mainstream, starting in the UK and expanding across Europe.

Recurring Payments, Reimagined

The UK’s recurring payments infrastructure is overdue for modernisation—Direct Debits settle slowly and cross-bank mandates often fail. Meanwhile, demand for flexible options like variable recurring payments (VRP) continues to grow.

Visa and Plaid are enabling a smarter path forward for the UK. The A2A solution brings together real-time authentication, persistent consent, instant settlement, and Visa’s trusted protections to support everything from subscription billing to utility payments.

A Safer, Seamless A2A Experience

A2A adoption has been held back by fragmented experiences and limited consumer safeguards. This partnership changes that. For the first time in the UK, pay-by-bank transactions will benefit from card-like protections. Consumers get peace of mind; businesses get more choice at checkout.

This is a truly digital-native alternative to cards, Direct Debit, and manual transfers, built for recurring payments and beyond.

A New Standard for Payments

Plaid’s role in Visa A2A reflects a broader shift: from fragmented, one-off integrations to a unified, scalable platform for the future of payments. As open banking infrastructure matures, we’re simplifying complexity so businesses can build faster and grow smarter.

The future of payments is one-click, consumer-first, and ready to scale. We’re proud to help lead the way.

Get in touch with our UK team to learn more.