Trustly completes acquisition of Ecospend, becoming UK’s leading Open Banking payment company.

Global payment platform for digital transactions between accounts (A2A) today announces the closing of its acquisition of UK-based payment platform Open Banking Ecospend following FCA approval. Trustly and Ecospend together become the UK’s leading Open Banking payment company, connecting with over 80 banks and reaching around 50 million consumers.

The UK is one of the fastest growing A2A markets in Europe and a major growth market for Trustly. Ecospend’s powerful payment and data initiation services in the UK, such as accessibility and identity verification solutions, combined with full connectivity to UK banks, make it strategically compatible with Trustly’s collection capabilities and cross-border reach. The combined company is well positioned to provide an attractive product in the UK, accelerating its market expansion as well as the rest of Europe.

Together, Trustly and Ecospend features will include:

• Market leading banking connectivity with over 80 banks in the UK
• Broad consumer reach: over 50 million consumers in the UK.
• Strong payment volume of over £7.5bn in the UK for 2022

Many of Trustly’s UK clients are already benefiting from partnerships and Ecospend Open Banking technology solutions.

“We are very pleased that we have now officially closed the acquisition. This is an important milestone and fully in line with Trustly’s ambitious goal of becoming the game-changing market leader in the UK. We can’t wait to continue our journey of expansion as a collective team, offering best-in-class Open Banking solutions for both consumers and merchants.” Johan Tjarnberg, CEO of the Trustly Group, comments.

Ecospend, founded in 2017, is an FCA-regulated bank-to-bank payment provider providing next-generation payments and financial data services. Ecospend serves clients in various industries. The company has a key contract with the UK government’s tax authority, HMRC.

“The UK is the largest digital payment market in Europe and represents a huge opportunity for us. We are seeing incredible interest from both consumers and businesses in Open Banking and the simple and secure payments it provides. Trustly and Ecospend will be able to excel in this area by offering the most comprehensive and compelling solution on the market.” says James Hickman, commercial director of Ecospend.