Hargreaves Lansdown chooses Ecospend for ‘pay by bank’ service

Open Banking provider Ecospend has been selected by UK-based investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) to provide its private investor clients with a ‘pay by bank’ service.

Ecospend’s Open Banking solution will allow Hargreaves Lansdown’s more than 1.7 million clients to make payments directly to their HL accounts securely and without the need for cards.

According to the investment platform, more than 98% of client activity is conducted through its digital channels and over 600,000 clients access its mobile app each month.

Hargreaves Lansdown chose Ecospend as its Open Banking partner citing the quality of its technology and services, and the “robustness the solution has demonstrated through its partnership with HMRC”.

In early 2021, Ecospend won a contract with HMRC to process payments for Self Assessment, VAT, Corporation Tax and PAYE and, in June this year, it was acquired by account-to-account payments company Trustly.

George Rodgers, senior product manager at Hargreaves Lansdown said the ability to offer an Open Banking-enabled payment method is a “step change in the payments experience” for its clients.

“Our clients can expect a simpler payment journey as well as instant settlement for deposits and withdrawals, compared to days under the current system,” Rodgers added.

“Our adoption of Open Banking is a key milestone in our digital transformation strategy and we will continue to use the best available technology to benefit our clients.”

James Hickman, CCO at Ecospend, called the partnership an important step for the Open Banking industry, “given the importance and reach of Hargreaves Lansdown”, which has assets under management of £132.3 billion.

“We are thrilled to be working with the market leader in wealth management to deliver a new solution that is both a natural replacement for cards and the perfect response to changing consumer behaviours and digital adoption,” he added.

“We are very excited to introduce so many new consumers to a simpler, faster and more secure way to pay. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Open Banking offers service providers an opportunity to serve customers with a range of solutions that are more convenient and secure, from payments to digital authentication and instant credit checks.”