What are bank payments? Everything you need to know
Last editedMay 20232 min read
Since our inception in 2011, GoCardless has consistently pushed the boundaries on what is possible in the world of payments. We were first to recognise that a payments system based on plastic credit and debit cards was not fit for purpose for the online world. And we have made it our purpose since then to find better, quicker, smarter, cheaper and more secure ways for people and businesses to pay each other.
Our constantly evolving product suite already takes the pain out of payments for more than 75,000 businesses across the globe, allowing them to focus on what they do best and grow to meet their potential.
But we’re not finished yet. The next chapter in the GoCardless story is perhaps the most exciting yet. We think we can revolutionise the world of payments completely, through bank payments.
Currently, too many businesses suffer high costs through the number of intermediaries involved in a card transaction. And their customers suffer as businesses had no choice but to pass these costs on to them. Having so many intermediaries also leads to slower payments and more opportunities for security to be breached.
But our global bank payment network has consigned this to the past and we can confidently say this is the dawn of a new era in payments – the bank payment era.
Bank payments, by GoCardless
Bank payments are the cornerstone of the next era of payments – one that is brought to you by our deep expertise in knowing what works, what doesn’t, and how businesses of all sizes can take the pain out of payments.
As one of the first and best-known innovators in this space, we've now accumulated more than ten years of experience in building direct bank payments using Direct Debit and are now utilising new banking APIs and real-time payment rails brought about by open banking to transform the way payments happen.
We pioneered the use of Direct Debit in transforming how organisations collect money and, thanks to open banking, the benefits of paying with your bank account can now be applied to other payment use cases such as collecting one-off or instant payments.
As our CEO, Hiroki Takeuchi, explained: “Open banking is going to play a big role in our future, so we’re doubling down on our plans to accelerate in this area and are expanding our vision to become the world’s bank payment network.
“By providing simple and secure direct bank payment solutions, we’ll help businesses and their customers bypass unnecessary intermediaries and pay directly via their bank account.”
What are bank payments?
Bank payments are payments made from one bank account directly to another. This means of digitally moving money in an integrated and automated fashion is faster and more secure, but there's more to it than that.
Bank payments can be used to send payments or collect them, whether that payment is one-off or recurring. Bank payments can also be used for instant payments, or payments scheduled for a defined date.
Collecting and making payments is at the heart of what businesses of all sizes do. For example, an organisation may want to collect one-off payments on its e-commerce store, or collect recurring subscriptions for a service it provides, or pay its supplier invoices regularly. All of this is possible with our global bank payment network. And, as our customers can attest, bank payments are what the future of payments will look like.
“Until now, online payments have been constrained by payment methods that were created for an offline world, resulting in high transaction costs and slow payout times,” GoCardless CEO Hiroki Takeuchi has said. “We’ve always believed that bank debit is the best way to collect recurring payments, and open banking is set to make bank payments the best way to collect one-time payments too.”
However, we know the payments business and the array of products on display are confusing enough to those unfamiliar with the industry. So, instead of talking about what bank payments are, we prefer to focus on what it can do.
