35,000+ businesses have selected GoCardless for open banking payments
Last editedMar 20263 min read
Bank payment company GoCardless has today announced that more than one in three customers have taken open banking payments through its platform, driving growth of ‘Pay by Bank’ across the UK economy.
The impressive number of open banking customers -- 37,323 since the launch of its first open banking product, Instant Bank Pay, in 2021 -- underscores how GoCardless has democratised access to the new technology. While competitors often require long sales cycles and complex integrations to use open banking, GoCardless has enabled small and medium-sized businesses to tap into its benefits immediately by signing up via the GoCardless website and using the dashboard, with no technical expertise required.
The fintech has an equally notable track record with enterprise customers. Industry leaders including JustGiving and Capital on Tap also place their trust in GoCardless’ open banking solutions, proving their ability to handle high-volume, mission-critical transactions with ease.
As open banking payments become mainstream, GoCardless has developed a high-performance solution that makes adoption viable and highly effective today. Key features include:
Full payer coverage from day one through ‘intelligent routing’ that automatically shifts payers to Direct Debit if open banking isn’t available.
A ‘bank guess’ feature: the GoCardless platform has seen 70% of UK payers over the past 15 years. This data is leveraged to auto-fill payment details and create a smoother checkout experience.
99.5% uptime, ensuring reliable service -- a critical factor for early adopters and a common concern across the industry.
By providing widely accessible ‘Pay by Bank’ solutions, GoCardless offers businesses a genuine alternative to card payments, ultimately reducing fees and enabling more secure, seamless transactions.
Shaun Puckrin, Chief Product Officer at GoCardless, said: “We’re immensely proud that over 35,000 businesses have placed their trust in GoCardless for open banking. That number is a testament to the range of businesses we’ve enabled, and our dedication to growing ‘Pay by Bank’ so merchants have a real choice when it comes to how they get paid. As open banking continues to mature, our product combines ease of access, scale and reliability so early adopters feel confident with a solution that works today, whilst future-proofing for tomorrow.”
Looking ahead, GoCardless is playing a lead role in introducing the next generation of open banking payments: commercial Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs). Find out more here.
What is open banking?
Open banking describes the process of banks and other financial institutions opening up data for regulated providers to access, use, and share, in a safe and secure manner -- and only with the customer’s consent.
Open banking payments are powered by this concept. Built on modern API technology, they replace clunky manual bank transfers and expensive card networks with direct account-to-account connectivity.
By combining this new technology with established methods like Direct Debit, businesses can bridge the gap between innovation and reliability, using open banking for instant, one-off payments payment while tapping into a trusted and preferred way to pay for recurring transactions.
Key benefits
For businesses
Reduced costs: Eliminates the high interchange fees associated with card networks; for instance, businesses using GoCardless’ Instant Bank Pay save up to 48% compared to collecting payments with cards.
Instant confirmation: Payments are authorised in real-time, reducing Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and the need for manual reconciliation.
Lower failure rates: Direct account-to-account flows bypass common card issues like expiration dates or stolen cards.
For payers
Frictionless checkout: No need to type in long card numbers; payments are authorized with a simple tap via their existing mobile banking app.
Enhanced security: Transactions can only be authorised through the payer’s online banking platform, meaning sensitive payment details are never shared with the merchants
Greater clarity: Payers gain real-time visibility over their outgoings, as money leaves the account instantly, unlike the "pending payment" lag of traditional cards.
Transparency & control: Customers remain the sole decision-makers over their data and can revoke consent or authorisation at any time through their banking app.
GoCardless has specialised in bank payments for more than 15 years, connecting disparate Direct Debit systems into a global network and adding tools that leverage machine learning and the millions of transactions it processes each year to improve fraud prevention and payment success rates.
GoCardless has been at the forefront of open banking since processing the UK's first live Variable Recurring Payment (VRP) transaction in a sandbox environment in 2019. In 2022, it became one of the first payment providers to facilitate a commercial VRP transaction and joined the approved list of open banking suppliers for central and local government in 2024.
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About GoCardless
GoCardless is a global bank payment company. Over 100,000 businesses, from start-ups to household names, use GoCardless to collect and send payments through direct debit, real-time payments and open banking. GoCardless processes US$130bn+ of payments annually, across 30+ countries; helping customers collect and send both recurring and one-off payments, without the chasing, stress or expensive fees. We use AI-powered solutions to improve payment success and reduce fraud. And, with open banking connectivity to over 2,500 banks, we help our customers make faster, more informed decisions.
We are headquartered in the UK, with additional offices in Australia, France, Ireland, Latvia and the United States. For more information, please visit www.gocardless.com and follow us on LinkedIn @GoCardless.
