NatWest enables UK’s first ‘non-sweeping’ customer payments through VRP

• In an industry first, NatWest Group has made Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) available to businesses and consumers as a new and convenient payment option 

• In doing so, NatWest Group has gone above and beyond the requirement to offer VRP for account sweeping

• The first ‘non-sweeping’ VRP payments were made by customers earlier today to Charity Right and Pink Chilli

26 May, 2022, London (UK) NatWest Group customers made the UK’s first-ever Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) for ‘non-sweeping’ use cases.

NatWest Group is the first UK bank to go beyond the requirement for banks to provide VRP for sweeping – the automatic transfer of money between two accounts belonging to the same person.

The bank is going further by offering VRP as a new and convenient payment option for businesses and consumers – complementing existing payment options such as Direct Debits and online card payments.

The first non-sweeping VRP payments were made by NatWest customers to Charity Right and Pink Chilli. Charity Right is an international charity that provides nutritious daily school meals to help children break free from the devastating effects of hunger. Pink Chilli is a lettings software provider that has a single platform designed to bring the property industry into the digital age.

Sajad Mahmood, CEO at Charity Right, said: "We're delighted to be the charity partner in this innovative trial with GoCardless and NatWest. Recurring donations are the lifeblood of charities and VRPs will enable our supporters to give regularly, in a way that works for them. These incremental donations will bring us that much closer to reaching our goal of providing regular, nutritious school meals to children around the world, lifting themselves, their families and even their communities out of poverty."

NatWest Group’s VRP offering enables payment providers to give businesses a new option for managing customer payments for a range of services, including utility bills, subscriptions and charitable donations.

VRP lets 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 can also benefit from more control over their finances as they can set maximum payment amounts and make instant payment cancellations through VRP.

Daniel Globerson, Head of Bank of APIs at NatWest Group, commented: “As a relationship bank for a digital world, we’re committed to offering innovative and convenient payment methods to businesses and consumers. We’re delighted that our customers are now experiencing the benefits of VRP, and we’re proud to see organisations such as Charity Right using VRP to manage charitable donations.”

The first non-sweeping VRP payments were supported by Charity Right’s integration with GoCardless and by Pink Chilli’s integration with TrueLayer. 

GoCardless and TrueLayer are amongst the first payment providers with whom NatWest Group has signed agreements to offer VRP as a new payment option.

Duncan Barrigan, Chief Product Officer and Chief Growth Officer at GoCardless, said: “We're proud to play an integral role in this market-first pilot, proving the value of VRPs beyond "me-to-me" transactions and powering donations for Charity Right. This trial represents the first step in making VRPs part of everyday life, from regular giving to subscription payments to repeat purchases at our favourite retailers.”

Jana Reid, Senior Product Partnership Manager at TrueLayer, commented: "This is another significant day for the UK payments industry and made ‘account on file’ a reality. We’re proud to be leading the industry with NatWest who have gone beyond the regulatory requirements for VRP and, as a result, enabled us to collaborate with clients across a broad range of use cases. Pink Chilli, for example, has embraced VRP to benefit from a faster, more secure and lower cost alternative to Direct Debit and debit cards for collecting rental payments."

NatWest Group previously announced that it also plans to pilot VRP through Payit™ – its open banking payments proposition – by offering VRP as a payment option for NatWest Rapid Cash customers in H1 2022.

Today’s development also follows TrueLayer’s announcement last week that it had conducted the first consumer VRP for account sweeping.

Notes to Eds. For more information, contact: Linda Yang, Head of PR, GoCardless lyang@gocardless.com +44 7533575155