Variable recurring payments (VRPs) provide a more secure, transparent, and lower-cost alternative to direct debits or card payments. Though they’re regarded as the future of bill, subscription, and invoicing payments, as well as one-click ecommerce, banks have been slow to enable them, in part because of the technical and regulatory challenges.  

NatWest just launched partnerships with three fintechs – Token, Yapily, and Tink (a former Insight Partners’ portfolio company that sold to Visa) – to provide more opportunities for variable recurring payments for its customers (the bank previously announced relationships with TrueLayer, GoCardless, and Crezco). The fintechs each have their own specialty, including bill pay and one-click checkout.  

VRPs save time, reduce fees, provide transparency, and lower the risk of failed payments for merchants, while providing more security and flexibility for consumers. The UK requires banks to provide VRP for sweeping (where money is automatically transferred between accounts belonging to the same person), but NatWest is the first UK bank to provide VRP for use cases beyond that as it aims to be on the forefront of the technology for its customers. 

“We’re committed to offering innovative and convenient payment methods to businesses and consumers,” NatWest’s head of APIs, Daniel Globerson, said of the partnerships. “VRP brings greater simplicity, control, and flexibility to payments. It’s fast, cost-efficient, and uses the very latest in bank API technology.”