NatWest Group has announced it will now offer customers access to Mastercard’s merchant account-to-account payment platform Pay by Bank (PbBa).

The move follows the bank’s announcement earlier this year that it will be migrating its debit card portfolios to Mastercard.

HSBC and Barclays have already signed up to the platform. With the addition of NatWest, the app is now available to 21 million people, or nearly half of all UK mobile banking customers.

All customers across the NatWest Group brands, including NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, and Coutts, will have access to the appl.

To make online payments the user clicks the PbBa button at checkout, which directs them to their existing banking app to complete the payment, without needing to input any payment or personal detail.

Via the app, payments are also leveraging fast Automated Clearing House (ACH) technology to process and settle in near real-time, giving the user instant updates about their bank balance before and after each transaction.

PbBa will be made available for all NatWest mobile banking customers by the end of next year.

“At NatWest we are committed to offering our customers a choice of ways to pay that best suit their individual needs,” said Salim Secretary, head of payment schemes and partnerships, NatWest Group. “We are pleased to be expanding our relationship with Mastercard to offer Pay by Bank app as another option for our customers to pay – offering additional choice and convenience.”

Suren Nawalkar, senior vice president, consumer applications at Mastercard said: “Pay by Bank app is the next evolution in online payments and this partnership with NatWest will make it available to even more people across the UK.”

Nawalker added: “Pay by Bank app not only makes online shopping easier and more secure, but the real-time payments and account balance updates give users greater oversight of their finances – something increasingly important during the current economic climate. Its integration with existing banking apps also removes friction for shoppers when having to download additional apps or enter new login details.”

Share Story: