Yapily and Ant Financial unveil commercial VRPs for ecommerce

Digital payment company Ant Financial has expanded its existing partnership with Open Banking infrastructure platform Yapily to introduce commercial variable recurring payments (VRPs) for ecommerce, in what is being hailed as a European “first”.

The new payment method debuts on HungryPanda, an Asian food delivery platform, meaning that from 6 February, UK users can place orders via their mobile devices and complete payments directly from their bank accounts.

The launch includes commercial VRP ‘One Click Payment’ and standard Open Banking payment method Pay by Bank, both of which are powered by Ant Financial’s global merchant payment processing solution, ‘Antom’.

The partnership between Ant Financial and Yapily is focused on deploying Open Banking solutions on mobile payment platforms to enable consumers who bank with UK financial institutions to make payments to merchants globally, via Antom.

Yapily CEO and founder Stefano Vaccino

Open Banking facilitates UK merchants to benefit from the Antom global digital payment solution – live with merchants in more than 40 countries – using their preferred bank account.

Pietro Candela, Ant International’s head of business development in Europe, said: “We’re pleased to continue our collaboration with Yapily to develop payment solutions which bring value and convenience to European consumers and global merchants, including Hungry Panda, and we’re excited to see continued adoption of this technology with our partner merchants as it scales across the platform.”

Since its inception in the UK in 2017, HungryPanda has expanded to more than 80 cities in 10 countries, including the UK, France, Italy, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Stefano Vaccino, chief executive officer and founder of Yapily, said: “We’re delighted to bring the benefits of Open Banking and commercial VRP to Europe. VRP technology is faster and more secure when making payments, giving an improved experience for both merchants and customers.”

He added: “By innovating finance in this way, we can power a more open and productive economy to the benefit of businesses and consumers. As a London-founded fintech, we’re delighted that the UK is the first country to enable this technology of the future.”