UK government moves to embrace payment initiation with TrueLayer appointment

TrueLayer, one of the leading providers of financial APIs, has been appointed to the UK Government’s Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Payment Acceptance Framework. As a result, TrueLayer can provide public sector organisations with its Payment Initiation Service (PIS).

PIS is faster, more secure and has much lower transaction costs than nearly any other payment method. As people do not require credit or debit cards to complete payments, it will also help individuals with limited access to financial services access Government services. If PIS is adopted across the public sector it has the capacity to save taxpayers a millions of pounds in transaction fees.

The CCS is part of the UK’s Cabinet Office. It provides policy, advice and commercial services to the public sector with the aim of saving money for taxpayers.

As part of the agreement, the CCS has pre-assessed and approved TrueLayer’s PIS for public sector procurement. This means any Government organisation can quickly set up with TrueLayer to accept payment via the Payments API.

Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and Founder of TrueLayer, said, “A new means of payment may, on the face of it, seem like minor news. However, widening the way people can make and receive payments from the Government is very important.

“A significant number of individuals simply don’t have access to credit and debit cards. This can essentially lock them out of a lot of public and business services. Payment Initiation solves this problem. It is also much faster and cheaper and if adopted across the public sector, could save taxpayers’ a huge amount of money.

“We’re delighted the UK government is supporting innovative fintech solutions and I look forward to engaging with different public sector organisations to help them get up and running with PIS.”

Jan Culshaw, Category Lead at Crown Commercial Service, said, “CCS undertook a robust and compliant procurement for RM6118 Payment Acceptance commercial agreement and awarded it to successful participating suppliers. We look forward to working with all suppliers and helping the public sector access these important services.”