Announced today, Starling Bank has entered into another partnership on its Open Banking-compliant API. This time it’s with Yoyo Wallet, a mobile payment and loyalty rewards platform that enables customers to digitally collect points if they pay with Starling in Yoyo-accepting retailers.
The digital bank is on a roll this week, after it announced a payment services deal with the Department for Work and Pensions and its acceptance into EU payments scheme Target2 yesterday.
This latest partnership provides a glimpse into Starling’s vision for its Marketplace via the upcoming Open Banking framework, as the UK gears up to be fully compliant in preparation for PSD2.
“Open Banking will see the consumer banking experience take a massive leap forward in January and Starling and Yoyo are the two fintech companies leading the way in this new and exciting space - a space that is still largely unexplored for many in our industry,” said Alain Falys, CEO and co-founder of Yoyo.
Yoyo is currently accepted at more than 2,000 retail outlets across the UK and Ireland. From tomorrow, after linking up their Yoyo account inside the Starling Bank app, users will automatically receive retailer-specific loyalty points and rewards when they pay using their Starling debit card.
For the moment, Yoyo is simply using Starling’s API without appearing in Starling’s Marketplace, however this will happen in time. This means that the loyalty app’s itemised receipt provision won’t available to Starling users, unlike the bank’s recent partnership with digital receipts start-up Flux.
Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden commented on the move, saying: “Starling and Yoyo can demonstrate to the industry the importance of Open Banking that puts customers first. We are excited to be leading the changes in the industry ahead of the incoming regulations in the UK and Europe in 2018.”
