Bottomline partners with Starling to provide real-time payments

Source: Starling/Bottomline Technologies

Bottomline Technologies, provider of financial technology for business payments, is launching its Real Time Payments Express Service in partnership with Starling Bank, which allows banks and corporates to send, receive and track payments in real-time to any UK bank account.

Bottomline, who was already the payment technology supplier of Starling, aims to address the fact that for many corporates and banks, becoming a direct member of the Faster Payments Scheme can be challenging. The implementation costs, payment expertise and restrictive timelines can extend projects into many months and leaves the ongoing compliance burden inside the organisation.

Bottomline’s Real Time Payments Express offering, with the support of Starling’s Banking Services, aims to supply an API driven real-time payment and settlement service, and thus provide all the core benefits of Faster Payments.

“Real-time payments are becoming the new norm around the world. In the UK, where the Faster Payments Scheme has enjoyed over a decade of growth, we have the technology needed to allow more participants to gain the benefit of full access to 24×7 instant payments,” says Julian Sawyer, head of banking services at Starling Bank.

Bottomline is driving payment innovation in the market, helping businesses to develop and scale new real-time services quickly and cost effectively, without the need for long development cycles and complex legal agreements. The Real Time Payments Express Service is available 24×7, offers software-as-a-service (Saas) and is equipped with full tracking to allow customers to see exactly where their payments have been made and received in the network.

“There is real transformation coming into the UK through the New Payments Architecture, Open Banking and PSD2 which gives rise for innovative partnership approaches like our Real Time Payments Express,” says Nigel Savory, managing director, Europe, Bottomline Technologies.

Starling was the first challenger bank to be a member of the Faster Payments Service, which also provides real-time access to Faster Payments through APIs in the transaction banking world. Starling’s pioneering Banking Services offering enables businesses – including Payment Service Providers, retailers, corporations and fintechs – to develop and scale new products and to move money in seconds.