eBay has rolled out a Pay by Bank payment option at checkout for UK buyers, who increasingly turn to open banking payments, through a strategic partnership with TrueLayer platform that processes over 40% of open banking transactions in the country.
The global e-commerce marketplace eBay has officially launched its Pay by Bank payment option at checkout for millions of UK buyers, enabling direct, secure bank payments without card details, via TrueLayer infrastructure support.
Pay by Bank is an account-to-account (A2A) payment method that lets customers pay directly from their bank account at checkout without using cards, instead authenticating the transaction through their banking app. It relies on open banking technology, which allows secure, regulated access to bank accounts to initiate payments. This makes transactions fast, real-time, and more secure compared with traditional card payments.
Being one of Europe’s leading Pay by Bank networks, TrueLayer facilitates processing of about one-fourth of the whole bulk of UK’s open banking payments. Open banking transactions like Pay by Bank statistically still trail behind card payments and digital wallet transfers, that make up the vast majority of local money interchange. However, they quickly gain traction. By rough estimations, about 1 in 5 consumers and small businesses in the UK are using one open banking driven payment service. More than a quarter (27%) of consumers said they use Open Banking payments for household bills and expenses, compared with 15% who rely on manual bank transfers.
Such payments reduce friction for consumers at checkout and can lower costs for merchants too, as fewer intermediaries are involved in the purchase process. Now enhanced by Pay by bank, eBay’s UK checkout flow will be much smoother and more versatile.
The new payment option rollout is carrying extra significance because eBay Ventures has made a strategic investment in TrueLayer. At present, the size and terms this deal have not been publicly disclosed in detail. At the same time, it emphasises eBay’s confidence in open banking technology and growing adoption of instant payments powered by it.
