With over 10 years of experience as a founder, as well as holding previous roles as CTO at Worldpay and Just Eat, James Neville, CEO of Yaspa, is perfectly qualified to discuss all things related to open banking and payments. He is also one of the payments sector’s leading experts in identity verification.
RBI editor Douglas Blakey speaks with James Neville, CEO, Yaspa
What’s in a name? Standardisation of language challenge
It is rather stating the obvious to note that open banking has the potential to revolutionise payments. It offers faster, more secure, and cost-effective transactions. But Yaspa’s research highlights a key challenge: naming conventions matter.
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Pay-by-Bank, Pay by bank account, Account-to-account payments, A2A, Open banking. Instant payments are all terms used to refer to the same, simple method of a payment made from one bank account to another. That is a payment initiated through open banking providers, meaning consumers avoid the chore of typing in, checking and verifying the transfer details.
‘Pay by Bank’ is gaining traction, but its meaning remains ambiguous to many consumers. This is one key takeaway from the Yaspa Index 2025, launched to act as a benchmark for industry awareness and to provide valuable insights for businesses looking to optimise their payment offerings.
Yaspa Index: awareness remains a work in progress
- 55% of UK adults report familiarity with the term ‘Pay by Bank’, but 45% remain unaware of the phrase despite its growing presence in online checkouts;
- Security (72%) and ease of use (66%) are the top priorities for consumers choosing a payment method;
- QR code payments are on the rise, yet only 27% of respondents used them for transactions in the past year, and
- Consumer education remains critical to driving open banking adoption, particularly in high-growth sectors such as gaming and retail.
Neville tells EPI that there is still an element of consumer education that needs to happen and that it is very demographic dependent. That is a polite way of saying that towards the older range of the demographic spectrum that there is work to do,
“A lot of people are using the new tools without knowing the actual banking terms for the tools they’re using. We don’t expect consumers to really understand the mechanics of it. Pay by bank, knowing that you’re using your banking app or the bank services to make a payment and the need to differentiate from cards – that is important.”
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By GlobalDataHow open banking can achieve its potential
If open banking is ever to realise its full potential, issues such as data transparency, improvements in payment execution and enhanced fraud prevention are essential. Yaspa is committed to driving these changes, working with industry partners to help shape a more seamless and secure future for open banking payments. Neville is also championing the standardisation of language related to open banking across the industry to help boost consumer understanding and adoption.
The challenge then is to ensure that consumers understand the benefits to them of using instant bank payments. For example, speed, security, control and fewer input errors. And then, once consumers have used it in one place, recognising it’s available as an option in another place, even if it’s from a different provider.
Looking ahead, Neville is optimistic that open banking can deliver a frictionless experience for businesses and consumers alike. With the right enhancements, it could soon rival – and even surpass – traditional card payments in convenience, security, and efficiency.
“We’re pretty unique in the space in that we connect identity and money. So we do lots of clever things, like providing bank identity on the transaction itself, and we provide financial health of that individual at the point of payment.”
Yaspa already operates across 19 European markets and is now plotting expansion in the Americas. Neville has good reason to look ahead with optimism.
