- Consumers don’t trust businesses that request bank transfers
- UK SMEs lost £6.15bn directly, and £31.4bn indirectly, in 2024
- Pay by Bank is secure, quick and helps prevent fraud
Open banking platform Tink says that SMEs in the UK alone lost £6.15 billion in direct sales last year because consumers don’t trust manual bank transfers, with a further £31.4 billion in indirect losses associated with customers not returning.
The news comes as Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud – where customers are tricked into sending money from their account to a fraudster’s account – accounted for £450 million in losses throughout 2024.
Two in five (41%) consumers now admit to walking away when they’re asked to make a manual bank transfer, with nearly three in five (57%) not trusting businesses that request payments via transfer.
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Consumers are (rightly) concerned about bank transfers
The majority (86%) note feeling uneasy if the account name doesn’t match the business, with a similar number (84%) also concerned if businesses don’t offer multiple payment options.
“Manual bank transfers are often no longer fit for purpose and are holding the UK economy back,” said Ian Morrin, Head of Payments at Tink.
Despite widespread consumer concern, the majority (87%) of SMEs that accept manual bank transfers still rely on them regularly, or as their preferred payment method, highlighting a distinct need for modernization.
This is even more worrying considering that SMEs make up 99.9% of the UK’s business population, leading to billions in losses.
“Secure, recognised payment methods, whether that’s Pay by Bank, digital wallets or card payments, give customers the confidence to complete purchases while helping businesses improve conversion, reduce fraud risk, and meet rising expectations around payment experience,” Morrin added.
Pay by Bank, enabled by open banking, opens up banks and services to communicate with each other, so instead of entering card details, customers can click a link to send a payment directly from their account, approving it in the app.
Tink describes Pay by Bank as cost-effective for businesses, but it also helps to reduce fraud and losses. With payments also settling more quickly than legacy methods, it can speed up processes on ecommerce platforms and lead to higher levels of satisfaction.