Amex Picks Nuvei to Promote Bank Transfer Payments

Nuvei has become the first acquirer to sell American Express’ open banking payment method.

The collaboration, announced Thursday (Nov. 2), will see Nuvei promote Pay with Bank transfer (PwBt), which lets consumers carry out transactions from their bank accounts without needing to enter card details or undergo additional authentication checks.

“Our mission is to enable our customers to get closer to their customers through payments, wherever they are and however they want to pay,” Philip Fayer, Nuvei’s chairman and CEO, said in a news release.

“Powered by American Express, but available to anyone with a U.K. bank account, we know Pay with Bank transfer goes above and beyond to ensure a secure, yet frictionless, service that is available to everyone, and we’re delighted to be working together to bring these benefits to a new customer base,” Fayer added.

According to the release, PwBt provides a frictionless payment with instant fund reconciliation and “attractive” processing fees. Nuvei will promote this payment method to both current and prospective clients and support them as they integrate the open banking payment system into their eCommerce platforms.

The companies note that more than seven million British consumers already make payments from their bank accounts, with companies in the travel and utility sectors among the early adopters of PwBt.

PYMNTS recently examined open banking’s role in the rising popularity of account-to-account (A2A) transfers, which involve direct electronic fund transfers between two bank accounts.

“But despite its growing popularity worldwide, many A2A payment users, both businesses and consumers alike, have become increasingly dissatisfied with the constraints of these transactions,” that report said.

Transaction limits and susceptibility to fraud are among the major concerns, according to insights found in the latest installment of the “Real-Time Payments Tracker® Series Report” by PYMNTS Intelligence.

A2A payments could also use a rebranding, as Nuvei Vice President of Product Ed Dean noted during an interview with PYMNTS in June.

He argued that the multiple names and abbreviations — A2A, bank transfer and online bank transfer — used to describe the same payment method have led to a branding problem. This lack of consistency fosters confusion among consumers, as well as concerns about security, despite A2A payments being highly secure.