European open banking powerhouse TrueLayer has fired a major salvo at the traditional card networks. Announcing the launch live on stage at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, the fintech firm unveiled Bank on File, an account-to-account (A2A) infrastructure play that allows UK consumers to make flexible, recurring payments directly from their bank accounts for the first time.
The service has launched with four major commercial partners already live on the system: digital investment platforms Trading 212, IG Group, and InvestEngine, alongside the East Lothian Housing Association (ELHA).
The milestone comes on the heels of TrueLayer’s strategic expansion into the credit space via its acquisition of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider In3 last week, signaling a coordinated push to position European bank-to-bank rails against dominant US card networks.
The UKPI: Bypassing Regulatory Gridlock
The technical and commercial deployment of Bank on File was made possible by the official activation of the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI). The newly established payments scheme operates as a collaborative framework uniting the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) alongside more than 30 major UK banks and financial technology institutions.
By establishing a standardized, industry-wide commercial rulebook, the UKPI consortium has managed to deliver robust, multi-use variable recurring payment (VRP) capabilities immediately. This collaborative shortcut allows participating fintechs and clearing banks to roll out scalable bank-to-bank payment networks today, bypassing the lengthy timelines typically required for formal legislative or regulatory mandates.
Solving the Subscription Failure Crisis
For modern subscription, investment, and utility platforms, traditional payment methods introduce significant operational friction. TrueLayer’s expansion into recurring billing targets a multi-billion-pound corporate headache: card churn and systemic payment failures.
According to data highlighted by TrueLayer and the FCA, the legacy billing landscape faces significant pain points:
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The Consumer Burden: An estimated 7.4 million UK consumers feel significantly burdened by their ongoing bills and credit commitments.
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Missed Benchmarks: Roughly 5.5 million citizens have missed at least one essential payment over the last six months.
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The Churn Problem: For digital businesses, card payment failure rates on standard subscription billing cycles regularly run between 5 per cent and 10 per cent.
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Bottom-Line Revenue Hits: These failed transactions ultimately cost subscription-based enterprises an estimated 9 per cent of their total annual revenue.
Bank on File eliminates the primary causes of these failures. Because the solution anchors directly to the consumer’s core bank account, there are no physical plastic cards to expire, no structural numbers to be compromised or stolen, and no costly merchant-side fraud to absorb.
How the Frictionless Checkout Works
Setting up a recurring bank-to-bank transaction has been re-engineered to match the speed of traditional card-on-file checkouts. Instead of manually typing in long card numbers, billing addresses, or bank sort codes, a user simply selects their financial institution from a secure list.
Authorization is completed instantly via native mobile biometrics, such as Face ID or fingerprint scanning. Payer transparency is prioritized throughout the setup flow: customers agree to exact maximum withdrawal limits and strict timelines before granting consent, retaining the unilateral right to cancel the recurring bank permission at any point directly from their application.
“For decades, digital commerce has relied on card-on-file payments,” noted Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and co-founder of TrueLayer. “Pay by Bank proved there was a better way to pay, but until now it was limited to one-off transactions. Bank on File changes that. Launching with four leading financial service providers shows that Bank on File is now ready to compete with card-on-file for modern commerce.”
Live Deployments and Enterprise Endorsements
The platform is rolling out to UK consumers in structured phases across the month of June, proving its utility across a diverse mix of consumer finance and housing verticals:
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Automating Wealth Accumulation: Trading 212, IG Group, and InvestEngine are deploying the technology to allow retail investors to easily automate routine account funding and schedule recurring contributions into portfolios or individual equities.
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Streamlining Social Housing: East Lothian Housing Association is utilizing the infrastructure to manage automated monthly rent collections.
Commenting on the launch, Marc Najjar, head of strategic operations at Trading 212, stated that Bank on File directly advances their mission to remove friction from long-term wealth building. Steve Burke, Payments SME at IG Group, added that the tool enables clients to automate their investment habits securely in “just a few clicks,” creating a significantly faster, card-free user experience.
From a housing perspective, Martin Pollhammer, chief executive at ELHA, expressed enthusiasm for the real-time settlement transparency the system brings to social housing tenants. “Instant settlement means tenants can see their rent is paid straight away, no more waiting for payments to process or worrying that a payment has been missed,” Pollhammer stated.
The Vision for One-Click Commerce
The immediate rollout into financial services and housing management represents only the first phase of TrueLayer’s long-term network strategy. Future expansion phases are designed to push Bank on File directly into mainstream digital retail, covering enterprise subscriptions, digital memberships, and high-velocity “one-click” checkout networks across global e-commerce.
Operating a payment network that already spans 22 countries and commands the trust of over 20 million active users, TrueLayer’s latest deployment signals a structural evolution for open banking. By transitioning A2A rails from an episodic checkout option into a permanent, recurring financial ledger, the firm is quietly building a modern utility layer designed to alter how money moves across the digital economy.
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