Guest Blog by Trustly: Why speed, trust, and locality matter more than ever in Open Banking payouts 

This guest article is contributed by Trustly and explores how payout infrastructure is reshaping customer experience, trust, and operational performance across industries.

Instant payouts have moved from “nice to have”, to expected. Across industries, customers now assume that accessing their money should be as fast and seamless as the digital services they use every day.

Whether it’s a player cashing out a win, a financial services customer withdrawing funds, or a platform issuing refunds or claims, delays and uncertainty are no longer tolerated.

Open Banking has played a critical role in enabling this shift.

By allowing businesses to initiate bank-to-bank payments directly, it removed many of the structural barriers that made payouts slow, opaque, and expensive. But as adoption accelerates, a new reality is emerging: Open Banking alone does not guarantee fast, reliable, or secure payouts.

The real differentiator now lies in how payout infrastructure is built and operated.

From payout initiation to payout execution

Historically, payouts were treated as a back-office function. Funds were sent in batches, routed through multiple intermediaries, and reconciled after the fact. Customers waited days. Businesses absorbed the operational burden.

Open Banking changed the first step, initiation, but execution still depends on what happens next.

In practice, payout performance varies widely depending on:

• where the funds are held,
• how they are routed,
• and what data is available at the point of execution.

This is why some “instant” payouts arrive in seconds, while others stall for hours or fail altogether.

Why local payout networks unlock faster, more reliable payouts

One of the most overlooked factors in payout speed is proximity. The closer the funds are to the recipient’s bank, the faster and more reliable the transfer.

Providers that operate local corporate bank accounts across multiple markets can:

• process payouts domestically rather than cross-border,
• avoid IBAN discrimination,
• and enable intrabank transfers, where funds move between two accounts within the same bank.

These intrabank payouts often complete instantly and with significantly higher success rates than interbank transfers, especially outside standard banking hours.

As a result, scale in payouts is no longer just about adding more rails. It’s about building a network that allows money to move locally, predictably, and without unnecessary intermediaries.

Smart routing turns “instant” into consistent

Even with access to instant payment schemes, not every route is equal at every moment. Bank availability, cut-off times, scheme participation, and local conditions all affect performance.

This is where smart payout routing becomes critical.

Rather than relying on a single predefined path, modern payout platforms continuously evaluate available routes and select the fastest viable option for each transaction. In some cases, that may mean choosing an intrabank transfer. In others, it may involve leveraging local instant payment schemes or fallback routes to maximise success.

The outcome is not just faster payouts, but predictable performance at scale, something traditional payout setups struggle to deliver.

Security through data, not disruption

As payouts accelerate, security expectations rise alongside them.

Regulators across Europe are pushing for stronger safeguards, including initiatives designed to ensure that funds reach the intended recipient.

While these efforts signal the right direction, the reality today is that implementations vary widely across banks. Relying on a single, inconsistent check risks introducing friction or failure into payout flows.

More mature approaches build verification directly into the payment flow. By using bank-verified data, payout providers can confirm who they are paying before the money is sent,  reducing fraud risk without slowing the experience.

This approach strengthens security without slowing down the experience, a balance that’s becoming essential in regulated, high-volume environments.

Why payouts are becoming a strategic lever

Across sectors, from financial services and gaming to telcos and utilities, payouts are no longer a commodity. They influence:

• Customer trust and retention
• Operational efficiency
• Cash-flow visibility
• Regulatory confidence

Businesses are quickly realising that the quality of their payout experience is a direct reflection of their brand integrity. A payout process that is fast, transparent, and utterly reliable acts as a powerful reinforcement of customer confidence; conversely, a single delay or failure can rapidly erode trust.

This is why the modern standard is moving beyond simple speed: when payouts are connected back to methods familiar to the consumer, such as Open Banking deposits and preferred local payment methods, the entire financial journey feels inherently more coherent and trustworthy, end-to-end.

This is why platforms and payment orchestration layers are increasingly focused on connecting merchants with payout partners that bring together local infrastructure, intelligent routing, and data-enriched security, not just Open Banking access.

The next phase of Open Banking payouts

Open Banking unlocked instant payouts. The next phase is about making them dependable.

That means moving beyond initiation and investing in the infrastructure, intelligence, and data that allow money to move exactly where it needs to go, quickly, securely, and at scale.

The businesses that get this right won’t just pay out faster. They’ll build stronger relationships, reduce operational drag, and set a new standard for how digital money should move.

About Trustly (Guest Contributor)

‍Trustly is a global leader in Pay by Bank solutions, enabling fast, secure, real-time transactions through its Open Banking platform. Partnering with major brands such as PayPal, eBay, FanDuel and Coinbase, Trustly connects over 9,000 merchants to 650+ million consumers via 12,000 banks across 30+ markets. Founded in 2008, the company processed nearly $100 billion in payments in 2024 and continues to redefine how the world pays. Trustly operates under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, the UK’s FCA, and U.S. state regulators.

Learn more at trustly.com