Stripe and TrueLayer Launch Pay by Bank Partnership in Finland

Payments network TrueLayer says it has begun offering pay by bank payments in Finland.

The payment method will be available through Kustom Checkout, and is powered by Stripe, the company announced in a Wednesday (Jan. 21) news release.

“Through this collaboration, thousands of Kustom merchants can now offer the shoppers a localized, instant bank payment option at checkout, enabled by TrueLayer’s open banking technology and Stripe’s global payments infrastructure,” the release said. “The rollout begins this month and will soon be available to all Kustom merchants.”

Stripe first introduced TrueLayer’s pay by bank solution to merchants in France, Germany and the U.K. last year.

“Finland has one of the highest rates of online banking adoption in Europe, making it the perfect environment for pay by bank to thrive,” said Ulf Klavér, Finland country manager at TrueLayer. “Working with Stripe and Kustom, we’re enabling thousands of merchants to offer a faster, safer way to pay – one that’s built for local consumers but powered by a pan-European network.”

According to the release, the partnership lets Kustom merchants offer an additional, “locally preferred” way to pay, while giving shoppers more choice at checkout and better reflecting how Finnish consumers already make online purchases.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote recently about the hurdle facing pay by bank adoption in the U.S.: while 30% of consumers say they’ve used the payment method, it accounts for only 1.5% of consumer transactions.

“Trial is widespread, apparently; but habitual use is not,” the report said. “That gap reveals where the real challenge now lies. The barriers are no longer technical but perceptual, behavioral, and even institutional.”

Pay by bank has already cleared the industry’s typical barriers to adoption. Consumers don’t need to download new apps or open new accounts, but rather encounter the method in contexts that feel “bank-like.” These include paying utility bills, transferring money between accounts or funding subscriptions.

“These are low-risk, low-friction moments, and consumers have responded accordingly,” the report added, though it hasn’t led to default behavior, with debit cards still making up around 30% of U.S. retail transactions.

“Their dominance reflects habit and trust more than innovation,” PYMNTS added. “Debit is familiar. Consumers know how disputes work, when funds leave their accounts, and what happens if something goes wrong.”