Open Banking
Bank-authorized data and payment access via APIs, enabling account-to-account payments and real-time verification.
Open banking is the practice of banks exposing account data and payment initiation through secure, permissioned APIs, so a customer can authorize a third party to verify their account or move money directly from it.
For merchants it enables two useful things: account-to-account payments that bypass the card networks entirely, and instant bank verification during onboarding rather than waiting on micro-deposits or a voided check.
For high-risk businesses the appeal is diversification. An account-to-account rail is not subject to card-network chargeback rules, so it can complement card acceptance — though it carries its own authorization and refund handling, and it does not replace a card merchant account for most consumer checkouts.