GoCardless, the global leader in direct bank payments has today announced at Xerocon London it has partnered with Xero, the global small business platform, to provide its Instant Bank Pay feature to Xero’s customers in the UK.

Instant Bank Pay is a new open banking feature directly integrated into the GoCardless global payment platform. With Instant Bank Pay, Xero users can receive one-off bank-to-bank payments from new and existing customers while still reaping the benefits of Direct Debit for their recurring payments.

Instant Bank Pay supports all businesses, including those with recurring revenue models. According to GoCardless research, 85 per cent of recurring revenue businesses have a need for collecting one-off payments, such as a supplementary fee during tax season.

Using Instant Bank Pay, Xero customers can accept one-off account-to-account payments and benefit from instant confirmation with payment authorisation completed in seconds. They will also enjoy fast, one-day settlement and access to recurring and instant one-off payments through one provider.

Duncan Barrigan, Chief Product Officer and Chief Growth Officer at GoCardless, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work hand-in-hand with Xero over the past six years, and we’re strongly aligned in our mission to help small businesses take the pain out of getting paid. This integration is the first step to offering Xero’s customers in the UK access to the next era of bank payments through Instant Bank Pay, making their payments faster, cheaper and easier.”

Leigh O’Neill, EGM, Global Financial Services at Xero said: “One of the biggest challenges for small businesses is the time it takes to generate and issue invoices and then chase payments using multiple systems. We recognise that integrated online payments are not only making a huge difference when it comes to saving time, but also in helping businesses look professional and credible by providing multiple payment options for different types of customer needs. The GoCardless Instant Bank Pay feature is another way Xero is making it easier for businesses to seamlessly collect payments from their customers.”

Merchants can add the Instant Bank Pay option straight into their checkout flow or simply send a payment request with a link to pay. Similar to a mobile wallet payment, customers are seamlessly connected to their bank, and can authorise a payment directly from their bank account in just a few clicks.

The Xero Instant Bank Pay integration is the latest milestone in GoCardless’ journey to accelerate its open banking strategy. Since April 2021, the company has introduced two open banking-powered features, Instant Bank Pay and Verified Mandates, which combines open banking account information services with direct debit to prevent fraud, across the US, UK and Germany.

The GoCardless Instant Bank Pay feature will soon be available to Xero UK customers.

You can try the GoCardless app in the Xero App Store here.