London open banking platform partners with fintech for instant account funding

London headquartered global open banking pioneer TrueLayer announced a new collaboration with investment platform Lightyear to deliver instant account funding through open banking payments.

Lightyear, founded by ex-Wise duo Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, combines multi-currency accounts with unlimited access to over 1k global stocks and ETFs, with no trading fees, no account fees, and no FX fees up to £3k per month.

Lightyear’s customers can now connect their primary bank account to the trading app for instant and secure funding using Payments Initiation. This process means customers can fund their account with confidence in seconds and make timely investment decisions.

Research by YouGov and TrueLayer has shown that payments directly influence investor satisfaction. 57 per cent of current and prospective UK investors said they are “more likely to trust a provider that offers instant payments”.

Martin Sokk, CEO and co-founder of Lightyear: “Our goal is to make investing easy and approachable for everyone in Europe. A big part of that means removing all the traditional pain points that create a clunky customer journey.

“Collaborating with TrueLayer to offer seamless, instant payments improves our customer experience two-fold. Our partnership will allow our customers to invest with confidence and we’re excited to be working with them.”

Jamie Morton, vice president of Vertical UK, added: “As more consumers look to build portfolios, they are faced with numerous issues, including slow and inefficient payments that affect how much and how often they can deposit funds to invest and, ultimately, their satisfaction with a platform.

“However, innovators such as Lightyear have recognised that offering instant deposits creates an opportunity to develop a deeper and more positive relationship with their customers.”