Coverage · United Kingdom
Open Banking payment initiation in the United Kingdom
MVP Payments has live, direct connections to UK banks. Bring your own PISP licence and initiate payments in the United Kingdom through one API — with every connection monitored around the clock.
- Status
- Live
- Currency
- Pound sterling (GBP)
- Payment rail
- Faster Payments
- Interface standard
- UK Open Banking Standard
- Regulator
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Payment services law
- Payment Services Regulations 2017
How Open Banking payments work in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom runs the most standardised Open Banking ecosystem in Europe. Its largest banks were required to implement a single specification, the UK Open Banking Standard, with a common security profile and a central directory of authorised participants. Account-to-account payments initiated this way settle over Faster Payments, in pounds sterling, typically within seconds.
Since the end of the Brexit transition period the UK sits outside the EU passporting regime. A PISP authorised in an EU member state cannot rely on that authorisation in the UK, and a UK-authorised firm cannot passport into the EU. Payment initiation in the UK requires authorisation or registration with the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Services Regulations 2017.
Identification works differently too. UK banks identify third-party providers through the Open Banking Directory and its OBWAC and OBSeal certificates rather than through EU eIDAS certificates alone. A PISP operating on both sides of the Channel therefore holds two authorisations and two sets of certificates — and benefits most from running both behind one platform and one API.
What you bring
- Authorisation or registration with the Financial Conduct Authority covering payment initiation services — an EU passport does not extend to the UK
- Enrolment in the UK Open Banking Directory, with OBWAC and OBSeal certificates issued to your firm
- Your merchants, your contracts and your compliance framework — the payments run under your authorisation
What MVP Payments runs
The UK bank connections
Built and maintained bank by bank, direct to the bank's own interface or the hub it uses — and identified to each bank by your certificates, not ours.
Monitoring, around the clock
Health re-evaluated every five minutes, a dedicated AI agent per bank, and engineers who release the fix. How monitoring works.
The payment journey
One API, a hosted payment page in 20 languages and your merchants' branding, and signed webhooks at every final status. Explore the platform.
Payment initiation in the United Kingdom: common questions
- Can an EU-licensed PISP initiate payments in the United Kingdom?
- Not on its EU authorisation. Passporting between the EU and the UK ended with the Brexit transition period, so payment initiation in the UK requires authorisation or registration with the Financial Conduct Authority. Firms active in both markets typically hold an FCA authorisation through a UK entity alongside their EU licence.
- Which certificates do UK banks accept?
- UK banks identify third-party providers through the Open Banking Directory. Enrolled firms are issued OBWAC certificates for transport and OBSeal certificates for signing, which take the place EU eIDAS QWAC and QSealC certificates hold on the continent.
- How does the UK Open Banking Standard differ from Berlin Group?
- The UK standard is a single specification with a mandated security profile and a central directory, so UK banks behave far more consistently than continental banks do under Berlin Group or STET. The consent model, the security layer and the payment rail — Faster Payments in sterling rather than SEPA Instant in euros — are all different, which is why UK coverage is a separate build for any PISP working from a continental integration.