GoCardless to buy Latvian Open Banking provider Nordigen

Direct bank payment provider GoCardless is set to acquire Open Banking data provider Nordigen, in a deal which will see it offer free Open Banking access.

Following the acquisition, which is expected to close later in the summer, GoCardless will incorporate Latvia-based Nordigen’s Open Banking connectivity into its account-to-account network, connecting to more than 2,300 banks in 31 European countries.

GoCardless intends to build on its deal to acquire in-house connectivity by expanding coverage and adding new payment types, such as variable recurring payments (VRPs).

It has already announced a VRP agreement and pilot with NatWest Group in the UK and its first VRP customer, Nude.

Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and CEO of GoCardless, said: “The Nordigen acquisition will take us to the next level. By intelligently combining free, state-of-the-art Open Banking connectivity with deep payment expertise, we can now offer Open Banking-as-a-service to any developer, partner or fintech.

“We believe this open access will lead to experimentation, and that will create even more compelling use cases. We’re excited to redefine what Open Banking can do with the talented Nordigen team now on board.”

Further terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Rolands Mesters, CEO of Nordigen, added: “We share GoCardless’s excitement about the growth of Open Banking, and we’re delighted to join forces with a group of people who not only share our passion for driving game-changing innovation in financial services, but will also help us bring free Open Banking access to a far wider audience.”

In June, GoCardless unveiled two Open Banking features in Germany – ‘instant bank pay’ and ‘verified mandates’, which is a fraud prevention feature.