What are Variable Recurring Payments?

Variable Recurring Payments, or VRPs, enable customers to access the benefits of open banking technology for recurring payments with a single consent. VRPs offer a smarter, faster, and more flexible solution than Direct Debits, enabling businesses and consumers to have more control over real-time payments. Read our guide on VRPs to find out more.

Sweeping VRPs

Following the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) mandate, the UK’s nine largest banks were told they must support VRPs for sweeping by 31st July 2022. Sweeping, also known as me-to-me payments, enables users to move money between their own accounts on a regular basis via bank transfer. This can be used to maximise savings potential where interest rates are higher or to avoid overdraft fees.

We have seen a positive response from industry to the implementation of sweeping, however, only when VRP APIs become more widely available will truly innovative use cases for open banking be unlocked. At Yapily, we believe that more collaboration between banks, third-party providers, and policymakers is needed to ensure the transition from me-to-me to me-to business (non-sweeping VRP) payments materialises.

Gain insights into the popular use cases for Sweeping VRPs and how your business could benefit from VRP integration.

Non-sweeping VRPs

Non-sweeping expands the scope of VRPs to include movement of funds between different accounts, where one is the user and the other is a business account. Unlike sweeping VRPs where the payment destination is restricted to your own account. Non-sweeping VRPs go by several alternate names including; premium VRPs, Commercial VRPs, and Dynamic Recurring Payments.

Get the full overview of non-sweeping VRPs and its use cases.

Commercial VRPs are set to be an exciting alternative to card-on-file for e-commerce payments. Not only do they offer merchants a low-cost and secure alternate way to get paid, but for consumers, there’s an enhanced user experience where they can checkout in just one-click. The set up of commercial VRP only needs to be done once to verify the account, then from there, it’s simple.

Yapily has been the first open banking platform provider to enable commercial VRP live for the first time! We partnered with Hungry Panda and Ant Group to make e-commerce commercial VRP a reality and enable this simple checkout experience. Find out more!

Commercial VRP could also include paying monthly subscriptions or regular household bills, for example. Non-sweeping use cases have huge potential to transform the retail landscape and be the catalyst for providing frictionless payment solutions to everyone.

Discover how Variable Recurring Payments differ from Direct Debits.

Why do Variable Recurring Payments matter?

At Yapily, we believe in the promise and potential of open banking payments for the whole ecosystem. That’s why we have partnered with Ozone API to enable more participants within the open banking ecosystem to benefit from VRP. Together, we will empower all banks and financial institutions to go beyond minimum regulatory requirements and commercialise their APIs. This partnership will offer everything a bank needs to switch on and monetise the growing VRP opportunity. Now the CMA deadline has passed for the UK’s nine largest banks, it’s our joint mission to ensure that no bank gets left behind.

“Partnering with Yapily means we can now deliver the benefits of VRP to banks and financial institutions, enabling them to build deeper customer relationships, reduce losses to payments fraud, and ultimately generate new revenue streams"

- Huw Davies, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Ozone API

We are also advocating for VRPs to be mandated beyond sweeping by working alongside the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) as well as with Her Majesty’s Treasury to highlight the significant potential these could bring to open banking adoption for both businesses and consumers.

How can Yapily VRPs help your business?

The implementation of non-sweeping VRPs has the potential to disrupt the movement of money for good. In future, consumers will be able to pay for their household bills, streaming services, and other subscriptions such as gym memberships without the hassle of setting up Direct Debit.

Pleo

We helped Danish fintech Pleo make VRPs a reality for their customers to automate account top-ups for a smooth and simple payment experience. With the help of Yapily, there’s no need for a heavy manual lift and instead Pleo customers’ account gets topped up once it goes below a certain threshold. No friction, no hassle, and all in their control.

Volume

The same opportunity is also evident for e-commerce businesses that are almost completely reliant on card payments. For our customers like Volume Pay, the one-click checkout payments platform, Yapily VRP will enable their merchants to save costs, increase payment volumes, and provide a frictionless alternative to standing orders and Direct Debit payments over time.

“VRP has triggered the next wave of disruption at the checkout. It is the direct debit equivalent of open banking, except where the movement of money is quicker, cheaper, and the customer has more control. This has the potential to be transformative for any business. At Volume, we are on a mission to remove hidden fees at the online checkout for both consumers and merchants, and Yapily is helping us to turn that vision into a reality.”

- Simone Martinelli, Co-founder and CEO at Volume

VRPs are a great example of how open banking is creating a healthy payments ecosystem, demonstrating value for every participant. We are proud to be at the forefront of payments innovation and deliver a product that meets the evolving needs of banks, merchants, payment service providers, businesses, and consumers alike.

Get in touch to find out more.

Eager to learn more about Variable Recurring Payments? Sit down with our guide on how your business can harness the power of VRP so you can integrate this payment innovator.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do VRPs work?

Variable Recurring Payments are a pre-approved automatic transfer between two accounts in line with specific parameters that have been established by the user. The payment is initiated by an Open Banking API that safely connects the two accounts to make the transaction.

What are the different types of VRPs?

There are two types of Variable Recurring Payments; the first is sweeping VRPs, and the second is non-sweeping VRPs. This can also be called premium VRPs, commercial VRPs, or Dynamic Recurring Payments.

What is the difference between sweeping VRP and commercial VRP?

Sweeping VRP is ‘me-to-me’ payments where funds are transferred only between accounts under the user’s name. Common use cases are for avoiding overdraft or topping up a personal investment account.

Non-sweeping VRP, or Commercial VRP, are ‘me-to-business’ payments where funds are transferred between the user and their selected business. Use cases for non-sweeping will be for paying monthly utility bills, subscription services, and e-commerce payments.

What are the benefits of VRP?

Variable Recurring Payments offer a range of benefits for both businesses and consumers. These include a lower risk of fraud, a smoother user experience, greater transparency and visibility over payments, and no chargebacks for the business. Real-time notifications of outgoing payments and Strong Customer Authentication aims to deliver an enhanced user experience over Direct Debit or card-on-file.

How is VRP different from direct debit?

Unlike Direct Debit, card details are not stored by the business and instead the customer sets up the VRP to have greater control over the frequency, amount, and date of payment. Direct Debits have a failure rate of up to 3%, whereas VRPs are expected to have a much lower failure rate as the customer has control over the payment. VRPs are much less prone to fraud due to Strong Customer Authentication as well as having increased security to enable safer payments.