TrueLayer launches payment links feature for merchants

European Open Banking payments network TrueLayer has launched its payment links feature which enables businesses to offer instant bank payments by generating QR codes and online links via email or text message.

The service is already being used by UK retailer Topps Tiles and Southampton-based Solent Wholesale Carpets.

Customers follow the payment link, which takes them to their online bank accounts to make the payment directly to the business.

The new functionality is not solely for use for online payments, it can also be used in-store to pay for purchases.

Payment links remove the need for a website or third-party ecommerce platform integration and, instead, let businesses create payment pages “within minutes”.

Michael Brown, TrueLayer’s head of ecommerce, said that legacy payment options, such as cards, have not kept up with the experiences customers and businesses have come to expect when making a purchase.

“These methods take days to settle, are highly frictional and often require a lot of resources to build payment infrastructure,” he said.

“Powered by Open Banking, payment links are an easy-to-implement, instant-to-settle solution that will allow merchants to accept Open Banking payments anywhere: across their marketing channels, emails, texts and even in-store,” Brown added.

Luke Crooks, director at Solent Wholesale Carpets, said it has been using TrueLayer’s payment links to automatically send invoice payment requests from its CRM, which means the payments settle in real-time.

“By using TrueLayer, we’ve been able to save on payment processing costs versus cards. Plus, the end-to-end integration time took less than 48 hours,” he added.

Topps Tiles and TrueLayer announced their partnership this year, making instant bank transfer available at point of sale across the merchant’s 300 stores nationwide.