Shopify and Volt Forge Open Banking Partnership

eCommerce company Shopify has named Volt as its open banking partner.

Merchants in Europe, the United Kingdom and Brazil that have integrated Shopify can now offer Volt’s Pay by Bank solution at checkout, Volt said in a Wednesday (June 14) news release.

“Volt stood out as an open banking payments provider owing to its infrastructure, the ease by which merchants can integrate its checkout, and its proven track record in the field,” said Shopify Vice President of Global Partnerships Ritu Khanna in the release, adding that the partnership arrives at a “global moment of change for payments.”

The partnership lets customers initiate real-time account-to-account (A2A) payments, with funds settling almost instantly, according to the release. The solution will be made available to Shopify merchants in more countries in the coming months, beginning with Australia in the fourth quarter of the year.

Shopify started seeking open banking partners after it saw rising demand from merchants for quicker, safer and more cost-effective payments, the release said.

“Open banking is experiencing hockey-stick growth around the world because it’s faster, easier and more secure compared to incumbent payment methods,” said Volt Chief Revenue Officer Matt Komorowski in the release.

One of the places seeing rapid growth in open banking is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as PYMNTS reported earlier this week.

This growth is being fueled by a unique ecosystem, an explosion in consumer demand and “forward-thinking” regulators, said Tarabut Gateway founder and CEO Abdulla Almoayed.

Almoayed told PYMNTS this trend has made it possible to institute innovations seamlessly and much quicker than in other parts of the world, with regulators leading the transformation to make sure that the advantages of open banking are passed on to consumers.

For example, Tarabut Gateway received its open banking certification from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to roll out its open banking services within the Regulatory Sandbox in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Almoayed added that the dynamics of markets across the region, which has fewer retail banks than other parts of the world, means that partnerships are seen as an opportunity to create value for all parties involved, instead of a means to an end.