NS&I rolls out Ecospend’s Open Banking-powered ‘Pay by Bank’ to online customers

One of the largest savings organisations in the UK, NS&I, is to begin offering customers an Open Banking-powered payment option, via Ecospend.

‘Pay by bank account’ will rolled out in the coming weeks to NS&I’s online customers as a new option for making additional deposits when they log into their online account.

Customers who select this option will be securely transferred to Ecospend, part of Trustly, where they select the bank they wish to make their payment from, before being securely transferred to their chosen bank to approve the payment, NS&I said.

Individuals with easy-access variable rate accounts, including Premium Bonds, Direct Saver, Direct ISA, Income Bonds and Junior ISA, will be able to top-up their online savings using Open Banking.

NS&I’s Dax Harkins

Dax Harkins, NS&I chief executive officer, said:“I am pleased that NS&I is able to offer our customers the benefits of the latest banking technology to top up their easy-access savings accounts.

“Customers with most UK major banks and building societies will soon find that they can smoothly make transfers into their NS&I variable savings accounts as we start to roll out ‘pay by bank account’ over the coming weeks.”

Ecospend’s ‘Pay by Bank’ payment method is already used by HMRC in the UK for self-assessment tax payments.

NS&I, which is backed by HM Treasury, revealed that between April 2021 and March 2023, customers topping up their savings using bank transfer rose to 44% from 20%, while payment by cheque accounted for just 1% of transactions as at March 2023.

HMRC, which implemented the Open Banking payments technology back in March 2021, reported earlier this year that more than £2.3 billion in Self Assessment payments were made to HMRC using its ‘Pay by Bank’ technology, ahead of the 2023 deadline – an increase of 64% on last year.