Stockholm-based Brite Payments, a provider of payment solutions built on direct bank-to-bank technology, is launching in the UK after securing an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The Launch
With its UK operating licence, Brite will begin a phased product rollout to merchants and consumers. Through a single API integration, UK businesses will be able to accept Pay by Bank payments both domestically and across Brite’s European network, without having to juggle local providers, deal with legacy contracts, or wait on slow settlement times.
The company is entering a competitive open banking market, where Pay by Bank has become a familiar alternative to paying by card online. The UK has more open banking users than almost anywhere in Europe, at over 15 million and rising.
Lena Hackelöer, founder and CEO of Brite Payments, framed the opportunity: “The UK is one of the most mature open banking markets in the world, but it’s been dominated by overseas card networks and reliance on legacy providers built for a single market. Both merchants and consumers are not just losing out, but are actively impacted. Today’s launch is an exciting moment in a post-Brexit world, as UK merchants can easily start offering Pay by Bank to their local customers and customers across Europe, enabling their expansion internationally.”
About Brite Payments
Founded in 2019 by former Klarna executive Lena Hackelöer, Brite Payments provides connections to more than 3,800 banks and operates across 27 European markets, using local payment rails, open banking, and its own proprietary infrastructure, the Brite Instant Payments Network (IPN).
