Working with three payment partners – TrueLayer, GoCardless and Crezco – NatWest has created a new breakthrough Open Banking service called Variable Recurring Payments (VRP). This goes well beyond the requirement that banks provide VRP to support ‘sweeping’ between two accounts belonging to the same person. VRP is an important addition, as it lets customers consent to paying a business on a regular basis without the need to consent to each individual payment:
“NatWest Group’s VRP offering will enable payment providers to give businesses a new option for managing customer payments for a range of services, including utility bills and subscriptions – complementing existing payment options such as Direct Debits and online card payments.
VRP will let businesses collect customer payments via the Faster Payments service, meaning payments can be received in near-real time.
As VRPs are set up digitally, there’s no paperwork to complete either – saving time, plus reducing the risk of fraud and manual error.
Customers will also benefit from more control over their finances as they’ll be able to set maximum payment amounts and make instant payment cancellations through VRP.
What’s more, in a change to the Open Banking status quo – where customers can consent to single immediate payments only – VRP will let customers consent to businesses taking payments from their account on a regular basis, without having to consent to each payment individually.
Daniel Globerson, Head of Bank of APIs at NatWest Group, commented: “VRP has huge potential for both consumers and businesses. As a relationship bank in a digital world, we’re proud to lead the industry by delivering a new payment option through VRP, which will make it easier for businesses and their customers to manage payments for a wide range of services.””
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group