Three quarters of European financial services executives (74 per cent) rank increased payment security and fraud mitigation as key benefits of Open Banking payments, according to research.

The ability to deliver instant transfers (70 per cent) and the potential to reduce costs for merchants (67 per cent) are also seen as important advantages, among the 380 executives from 12 countries questioned in the survey commissioned by Open Banking platform Tink.

The survey revealed the specific use cases executives believe are best suited to Open Banking payment initiation services (PIS), focusing on processes that are “often inconvenient, frustrating and time consuming” for users, said Tink.

PIS are best suited, in order, to peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, invoice/bill payments, fund transfers for investments and savings, and online commerce payments.

A key concern for executives is the current limited adoption of instant payment rails across Europe to enable real-time payments, which topped the poll of major barriers to the take-up of PIS.

Executives also cite a lack of consumer awareness as a major barrier, with 75 per cent believing awareness is “critical” for PIS adoption.

Tom Pope, head of payments and platforms at Tink, said: “In certain markets we are already reaching a tipping point of user adoption, where financial institutions are embracing the opportunity and investing in a range of use cases. As a result, PIS volumes are growing rapidly.

“But there is still some way to go to remove barriers to mass-market adoption. That’s why we welcome the European Commission’s proposal to mandate the adoption of instant payment rails and call on them to ensure that access to these rails is free for consumers.”

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