UK open banking passes 16m users; 351m payments in 2025 as commercial VRP scheme readies

By the end of 2025 UK open banking surpassed 16 million active users, with 351 million open-banking payments made during the year (up 57% YoY). Variable Recurring Payments accounted for roughly 16% of open-banking transactions and grew about 98% YoY, still largely from 'me-to-me' sweeping. In parallel, a new commercial VRP (cVRP) scheme is being stood up, with first live payments expected in Q1 2026 across use cases such as utilities, financial services and government.

Pay-by-bank/A2A is the UK analogue to EU instant-payment momentum; commercial VRP would let merchants take recurring account-to-account payments as a card alternative, pressuring card interchange and reshaping the UK checkout and acquiring landscape.

cVRP go-live and pricing model in 2026, merchant adoption beyond sweeping, bank participation, and the impact of the National Payments Vision on PSR/FCA oversight.

• paymentexpert.com
• Open Banking Ltd