Account-to-account (A2A) payments provider, Echopay, and open banking Payment infrastructure leader, Token.io, have today announced their partnership to bring A2A payments to wholesale merchants across the United Kingdom.

Underpinned by Token.io’s best-in-class connectivity for A2A payments, EchoPay enables businesses to accept A2A payments at point of sale, providing an additional low-cost payment option with instant settlement and enhanced security.

Recent analysis conducted by EchoPay reveals that the average wholesale transaction amounts to £1,800, incurring average bank charges of £18. Furthermore, since interchange for most commercial cards is not capped in the United Kingdom, wholesale merchants also face higher card fees than consumer-oriented merchants. Harnessing the benefits of open banking-enabled payments to eliminate intermediaries from the payment flow, EchoPay can significantly reduce these charges, resulting in substantial benefits for wholesale merchants.

EchoPay’s A2A payment solution can be easily installed on Point of Sale (POS) terminals as a custom tender, allowing merchants to generate QR codes for customers to initiate a frictionless A2A payment directly from their mobile phones. Notably, members of Unitas Wholesale, the UK’s largest independent wholesale buying group, with more than 150 independent wholesale members across retail, out of home, and specialist channels, have already realised considerable advantages through EchoPay’s solution.

Unitas anticipates saving its wholesale members up to £5 million in banking charges this year, thanks to this strategic partnership. Additional cost savings will derive from eliminating the need to share or store sensitive card data, reducing Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) scope.

EchoPay’s commitment to streamlining payments for wholesalers extends beyond the point of sale. In addition to enabling A2A payments via ‘Clover’ POS terminals, EchoPay also enables Unitas merchants to accept A2A payments through a branded app or credit management dashboard, with support for payment requests via email or WhatsApp through a branded webpage.

James Ward, CEO and Founder of EchoPay, stated: “Our ambition is to help independent wholesalers across the country improve their profitability by reducing their banking charges. Our new partnership with industry leaders Token.io is an important step in enabling even more businesses to discover the benefits of open banking-enabled payments.”

A2A payments (often called ‘Pay by Bank’) are a fast and secure way to move money between bank accounts. Open banking-powered A2A payments do not require registration or error-prone data entry, and have Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) built in, making them a seamless payment method. Payers authenticate A2A payments directly with their bank for a frictionless payment experience that also delivers higher success rates than market standards, particularly for wholesale merchants with high average transaction values.

James Ward continued: “Open banking payments present an opportunity for merchants to offer their customers a fast and convenient alternative to traditional card payments. Transactions using EchoPay cost the wholesaler a flat rate. This is particularly valuable for wholesale merchants operating in a B2B environment with high average transaction values. With EchoPay, merchants can effortlessly generate QR codes to accept A2A payments at the point of sale, ensuring instant payment processing, improved cash flow, mitigated risk of chargebacks, and a clearer view of funds for customers.”

Todd Clyde, CEO of Token.io, commented: “We are thrilled to partner with EchoPay to bring the benefits of Pay by Bank solutions to new verticals. The launch of EchoPay is a big step forward in making Pay by Bank available at the point of sale and expanding the benefits of A2A payments to more merchants. In addition to cost savings, Pay by Bank enables better cash flow as payments are settled instantly, and can also be allocated seamlessly for faster, easier reconciliation than invoicing and accepting bank transfers.”