Point & Pay Integrates Trustly’s Pay-by-Bank Tools for Government Payments

Point & Pay, a payment processing provider for government agencies, has integrated Trustly’s pay-by-bank tools to enable single sign-on with banks when paying government obligations.

This combination will reduce the occurrence of returned checks, the companies said in a Tuesday (June 3) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

“This new approach reduces the rate of returned checks and helps us deliver enhanced modernization solutions to all our clients,” Point & Pay CEO Kevin Connell said in the release.

Point & Pay, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of payments technology firm North, serves more than 5,500 government agencies and processes over $15 billion in payments annually, according to the release.

The integration of Point & Pay’s and Trustly’s technologies enables them to verify bank accounts in real time by using customers’ online banking credentials via single sign-on to confirm routing information and availability of funds, the release said.

It also employs Trustly’s patented split-token security process and its Section 1033 compliant payment solution, per the release.

“The partnership represents significant progress in the adoption of Pay by Bank payments in the public sector, and establishes a clear precedent for its potential in government payment systems,” Trustly Chief Business Development Officer Craig McDonald said in the release. “This collaboration helps government agencies simply their payment systems, reduce processing costs and improve the overall customer experience.”

While open banking has been around for years, gaining traction in regions like the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, it has only begun to be embraced in the United States, Trustly Chief Product Officer Adam D’arcy told PYMNTS in an interview posted in January.

“We’re already seeing successful applications of open banking,” D’arcy said.

Open banking enables consumers who receive payouts to link their bank accounts directly using their existing logins and receive funds instantly, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Trustly collaboration, “How Open Banking Can Provide Fast and Easy Consumer Payouts.”

The report found that 42% of consumers primarily receive payouts directly to their bank accounts, whether from merchants, service providers or government agencies, and that open banking is on the rise and is reshaping the traditional banking system.