Best Payments Initiative in Open Banking

Target audience 

1. Brands who are running programmes 

2. Technology providers offering platforms 

3. Regulated entities providing the backbone to solutions, offering them direct to the market, or through brands. 

4. PISPs 

Detailed definition 

Best Payments Initiative in Open Banking is designed to capture the new non-scheme form of payments that have proliferated using open banking and A2A payments in the UK and Globally.  

An account is defined as a balance holding ledger provided by a deposit taking credit institution, bank, EMI, PI or equivalent local regulatory status or through a mobile money platform with appropriate local regulation.  

The award is to recognise the best initiative that enable funds to be paid from one account to another without going through an international or national payment card payment scheme. The solution may be a platform, e.g., mobile money, faster payments enabling a market or market segment, or it may be a particular use case/programme. The programme may be between consumers or part of a B2B payments solution.  

The judges are looking for solutions that enable the cost effective movement of funds with other benefits for all participants in the value chain. 

The solution may be running in any country/countries.  

Please provide the following information: 

Nominee and nominator 

• Name of nominating organisation 

• Solution/Programme name (entry title) 

• Name(s) of nominated organisation(s) 

• The nature of the business relationship between you as the nominator and the nominee company 

Solution description 

The judges will assess your entry against the following criteria. You are free to describe the programme and support your case with additional material as you think appropriate. However, we strongly suggest that you do NOT submit generic promotional material and sales brochures. Please limit your submission to a maximum of 1,500 words.  

The criteria are: 

1. The platform/solution/programme provides value to the end user 

2. There are demonstrable benefits to all parties in the value chain 

3. The platform/solution/programme delivers a solution to a specific problem or opportunity 

4. The platform/solution/programme has performed well, and the submission is supported with quantitative evidence of success from a reliable source 

5. The platform/solution/programme stands out from its competition either through performance, innovation, value to stakeholders or other means as described in the submission. 

Evidence of success/metrics 

Please provide as much information as you can and quote the source of that information. Such information might include the following, but this is not an exhaustive list and in each case the judges will be looking for evidence that supports your claims about the key benefits of the programme: 

• The length of time it has been live 

• The number of transactions and their value from initial launch until January 2026 through the platform/solution/programme 

• The number of unique participants using the programme as of January 2026 

• Growth in use, both historical and extrapolated projections 

• How the platform/solution/programme has transformed the end-user experience.