Uber and Stripe Expand Partnership to Enable Pay by Bank

Uber and Stripe have expanded their strategic payments partnership across the United States, Australia and Japan.

By expanding its use of Stripe’s payment platform, Uber will reduce payments costs, enhance payments performance and give customers more payments options, the companies said in a Wednesday (May 3) press release.

“Creating payments experiences that combine payments innovation, reduced friction and cost savings is at the core of what we do,” Uber Vice President of Payments, Risk and Identity Karl Hébert said in the release. “Using Link to give customers the option to easily pay with their bank accounts puts us in a position to tick all those boxes while providing access to an increasingly popular mode of payment.”

PYMNTS research has found that 46% of consumers know what online bank transfers are and have used them.

Online bank transfers’ speed is one of the attributes that most appeal to consumers, and consumers are especially likely to use online bank transfers for recurring bill payments, according to “New Ways to Pay: Aligning Consumer and Merchant Payment Preferences,” a PYMNTS and Nuvei collaboration.

The report also found that as more consumers recognize the benefits of using online bank transfers in the purchase process, the use of this emerging payment method may become more widespread in the shopping arena.

With its expanded partnership with Stripe, Uber will use Link — which is Stripe’s one-click checkout — and Stripe Financial Connections to allow customers to add bank accounts within the Uber app and use those saved bank details for future purchases with Uber Rides and Uber Eats, according to the press release.

The firm is also using Stripe to process card payments on eftpos in Australia and Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) in Japan, the release said.

“Uber remains at the forefront of online payments today,” Stripe President of Product and Business Will Gaybrick said in the release. “As they look to provide ever more flexibility to their customers, we’re honored to do our part to help, and we’re thrilled to be along for the ride.”

This announcement comes at a time when consumers’ connected engagement with rideshare platforms like Uber and Lyft, and home-sharing site Airbnb, has extended to 18 million more consumers while growing 27% in February.