FLEX Payment Solutions, the St. Louis‑based payment‑technology firm, announced today the launch of Pay By Bank, a bank‑to‑bank payment option that lets merchants accept secure, account‑to‑account transfers directly from consumers’ banks. The addition aims to give businesses a cost‑effective alternative to card processing while widening the digital‑payments toolbox for sectors ranging from consumer finance to cannabis.
What FLEX announced
In a press release dated June 18, 2026, FLEX’s President Rob Zeitler described Pay By Bank as “another powerful tool to improve the customer experience while creating opportunities to streamline payments and support long‑term growth.” The service integrates with the company’s existing ecosystem—ACH, card processing, text‑to‑pay, IVR, instant‑funding, and gateway APIs—allowing a single vendor to handle multiple payment modalities.
How the technology works
Pay By Bank leverages open‑banking APIs to initiate a one‑time debit from a consumer’s checking account after the shopper authorizes the transaction via a digital interface. The workflow mirrors a typical card checkout: the shopper selects “Pay By Bank,” logs into their bank portal, and confirms the amount. Behind the scenes, FLEX routes the request through the bank’s authentication layer, captures the funds, and settles the transaction into the merchant’s account, all while maintaining PCI‑DSS compliance.
Why the announcement matters
The shift toward account‑to‑account (A2A) payments is accelerating. Gartner predicts that 70 % of digital payments will be A2A by 2027, driven by lower interchange fees and rising consumer distrust of card fraud. For merchants, this translates into reduced cost of acceptance—ACH‑based transfers can be up to 80 % cheaper than credit‑card processing—while offering a frictionless checkout that eliminates the need for card details.
Industry impact and competitive context
Pay By Bank enters a crowded field that includes Stripe’s “Bank Transfer” and PayPal’s “Pay in 4” A2A pilots. Unlike pure‑API providers, FLEX bundles the new service with a suite of legacy and emerging payment channels, positioning itself as a “single‑pane‑of‑glass” solution for enterprises that have already invested in its platform.
From a technology perspective, FLEX’s approach relies on open‑banking standards (UK’s Open Banking, EU’s PSD2, and emerging U.S. frameworks) rather than proprietary tokenization. This could simplify compliance for merchants operating across multiple jurisdictions, a notable advantage over competitors that lock developers into ecosystem‑specific SDKs.
Implications for enterprise marketing teams
Enterprise marketers often juggle multiple payment experiences across B2B and B2C touchpoints. The addition of Pay By Bank offers a new data point for segmentation: shoppers who prefer direct‑bank payments tend to have higher average order values (AOV) and lower cart‑abandonment rates, according to a 2024 Forrester study. Marketing automation platforms such as Salesforce and Adobe Experience Cloud can now trigger personalized offers based on the chosen payment method, enriching the customer journey with context‑aware incentives.
Moreover, the bank‑to‑bank model aligns with embedded finance trends highlighted by IDC, which forecasts the embedded finance market to exceed $7 trillion by 2030. By integrating Pay By Bank into SaaS‑based checkout flows, vendors can embed financial services directly into their core offerings, turning a simple transaction into a revenue‑generating touchpoint.
Regulatory and security considerations
While A2A payments reduce exposure to card‑number theft, they introduce new compliance layers. FLEX must navigate the varied consent frameworks of open‑banking regulations, ensuring that each transaction is captured with explicit user authorization. The company’s claim of “secure bank‑to‑bank payments” hinges on end‑to‑end encryption and tokenized routing, practices that align with the latest NIST guidelines for financial data.
Outlook and adoption hurdles
Adoption of bank‑to‑bank payments still faces consumer awareness challenges. Statista reports that U.S. ACH transaction volume grew 12 % YoY in 2024, yet only 18 % of online shoppers cite bank transfers as a preferred method. Education campaigns and seamless UX design will be critical for FLEX to convert that latent demand into active usage.
Market Landscape
Open banking is reshaping the payments ecosystem. In North America, Forrester estimates that 60 % of banks will have fully deployed open‑banking APIs by 2025, enabling fintechs like FLEX to tap directly into consumer accounts. European markets are further ahead, with the European Payments Council reporting a 45 % increase in A2A transactions year‑over‑year. Simultaneously, the global digital‑payments market, projected by McKinsey to reach $10 trillion by 2028, is being driven by low‑cost, high‑speed alternatives to card networks.
FLEX’s Pay By Bank aligns with these macro trends by offering a merchant‑centric, cost‑effective channel that leverages existing open‑banking infrastructure. Its ability to bundle the service with legacy ACH and emerging real‑time payment rails positions the company to capture a slice of the growing A2A pie, especially in regulated verticals such as cannabis and credit unions where traditional card acceptance is limited.
Top Insights
- Cost advantage: Pay By Bank can slash merchant processing fees by up to 80 % compared with Visa/Mastercard interchange rates.
- Vertical relevance: Compliance‑heavy sectors like cannabis and credit unions gain a legally supported digital payment method, expanding their online sales potential.
- Marketing leverage: Payment‑method data enriches customer profiles, enabling more precise targeting and higher AOV through personalized offers.
- Competitive edge: FLEX’s integrated platform reduces integration complexity versus single‑purpose APIs, appealing to enterprises with multi‑channel payment strategies.
- Adoption barrier: Consumer unfamiliarity with bank‑to‑bank checkout requires education and frictionless UI design to achieve mainstream usage.
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