Raphaels Bank joins Faster Payments
Raphaels goes 24/7
UK-based Raphaels Bank has become the “first new fully operational participating financial provider” of Faster Payments, the UK’s 24/7 real-time payment service.
The bank says it is the 12th direct participant of the Faster Payments Scheme (FPS), and the first new bank to connect directly to the payment system since it was launched in 2008. Raphaels is using its participation to act as a sponsor – which it says enables other payment service providers (PSPs) to access payments via its connection.
Craig Tillotson, chief executive of Faster Payments, says the bank’s membership “underlines the revolutionary contribution our New Access Model is starting to make by enabling payment service providers of all shapes and sizes to offer their customers the real-time, 24/7 payments they demand”.
Earlier this month, TransferWise became the “first” tech firm to get direct access to FPS as technical partner to Raphaels Bank. In June, ACI Worldwide also partnered with Raphaels to open up access to FPS.
Faster Payments says three more PSPs, including Starling Bank, are on course to join before the end of 2016, while five fintech firms have been awarded the “trust mark” certificate required to act as a technical aggregators and provide direct technical access to Faster Payments.
“Independent research” (i.e. Accenture) commissioned by Faster Payments predicts the size of the UK real-time payments market is likely to almost treble in the next five years, with annualised growth of 20% forecast, leading to 3.3 billion Faster Payments being sent in 2020 alone.
