PhotonPay customers in the UK can now access named GBP accounts and local payment rails, improving reconciliation, speed, and compliance across domestic payments.
PhotonPay, a global AI-powered digital financial infrastructure provider, has expanded its UK payments capabilities through a strategic collaboration with ClearBank, enabling deeper integration with local UK clearing and banking rails.
Under the new partnership, PhotonPay’s business customers will gain access to a broader suite of financial services, including named virtual accounts, GBP collections and payouts, and Confirmation of Payee (CoP) functionality (similar to EU’s Verification of Payee (VoP)). These capabilities are built on ClearBank’s API-based banking infrastructure and real-time clearing services, allowing PhotonPay clients to connect to key UK payment systems such as Faster Payments, BACS, and CHAPS.
By leveraging these local rails, enterprises operating in the UK can benefit from faster settlement times, more flexible liquidity management, and greater operational control over funds. The integration also strengthens compliance and aligns PhotonPay’s platform more closely with domestic financial flows, reducing reliance on intermediary channels while improving overall efficiency.
Prior to integrating directly with UK local rails, PhotonPay primarily provided cross-border GBP payments routed via correspondent banking or intermediary PSPs, multi-currency wallet services, international collections and payouts (often via SWIFT or partner banks outside the UK), etc. That meant slower settlement times for UK domestic payments, less control over reconciliation, dependence on intermediaries rather than direct participation in UK schemes, and other inconveniences.
Today, with access to Faster Payments, BACS, and CHAPS, enabled by the new partnership, the firm’s business customers will enjoy quicker settlement speeds, stronger compliance, and seamless integration into the UK’s financial system.
Partnering with ClearBank would help PhotonPay in expanding its global payment infrastructure, in particular, across Europe.
PhotonPay has developed an AI engine that optimizes key parts of the payment flow, including dynamic routing of transactions to improve success rates, boost efficiency, and lower processing costs. The platform also provides data-driven performance recommendations tailored for merchants, leverages machine learning for real-time fraud detection and automated risk scoring, and uses AI to automate complex workflows, such as dynamic card issuance and spending controls, optimised bulk payouts with batch error validation, streamlined reconciliation across multiple currencies and accounts, and more.
