The card networks have dominated payments for decades. Visa, Mastercard, and Amex built an infrastructure so ubiquitous that most businesses never questioned the 1.5–3% interchange fees buried in every transaction. But a quiet revolution is underway — and it's being driven by regulation, not disruption.
PSD2, the EU's revised Payment Services Directive, didn't just mandate Strong Customer Authentication. It forced banks to open their APIs, enabling third-party providers to initiate payments directly from customer accounts. The result? Account-to-account (A2A) transfers that bypass card rails entirely.
For B2B payments, the implications are enormous. A mid-market enterprise processing £10M annually in supplier payments could save £150,000–£250,000 per year by switching from card to Open Banking rails. Settlement is near-instant via Faster Payments (UK) or SEPA Instant (EU), compared to T+2 or T+3 for card networks.
Knectd's PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider) infrastructure connects to over 2,000 banks across the UK and Europe. Our single API handles consent, initiation, and confirmation — meaning your ERP or accounts payable system can trigger bank transfers without ever touching card data.
The security model is inherently stronger, too. Open Banking uses bank-grade authentication (biometrics, device binding, SCA) rather than static card numbers. There are no chargebacks, no PAN storage requirements, and no PCI-DSS scope creep.
We're seeing adoption accelerate across three verticals: B2B SaaS (subscription billing via recurring A2A mandates), marketplace platforms (instant seller payouts), and payroll (bulk disbursements at a fraction of BACS cost). Each of these use cases hits the sweet spot where card economics simply don't work.
The question isn't whether Open Banking will replace cards for B2B. It's whether your business will make the switch before your competitors do.
