Finexer Open Banking Blogs

  • UK Transaction Data Enrichment API: Pricing & Accuracy

    UK Transaction Data Enrichment API: Pricing & Accuracy

    “AMZNMKTP*AB123” tells your reconciliation engine nothing. A transaction data enrichment API turns that string into Amazon Marketplace, Office Supplies, non-recurring, in one API call. This guide covers merchant-match accuracy, data enrichment API pricing models, structured JSON schema across UK banks and what separates production-grade enrichment from a categorisation feature bolted onto a data feed.

  • International Payments Still Break at Scale. Here Is Why.

    International Payments Still Break at Scale. Here Is Why.

    International payments from the UK are two journeys joined together: a fast domestic leg and a slower cross-border leg where fees and visibility hide. This guide explains how each leg works, the four real costs, what Open Banking can and cannot change, and how to compare international payout services properly.

  • Payment Status Tracking: Webhooks vs Polling and the Open Banking Approach

    Payment Status Tracking: Webhooks vs Polling and the Open Banking Approach

    Payment status is one of those things that looks simple until you are running payment workflows at volume on a UK platform. Polling creates rate limit pressure, confirmation delays, and reconciliation gaps that compound with scale. This is how webhooks, idempotency, and bank-confirmed instant payment notification change the operational picture for engineering and product teams.

  • Do Open Banking providers connect directly to banks or piggyback on other providers?

    Do Open Banking providers connect directly to banks or piggyback on other providers?

    Some UK Open Banking providers hold a direct bank connection for AIS and PIS. Others resell a third party’s access, leaving you unable to diagnose faults or escalate outages. Learn the difference, how to verify it via the FCA Register, and why it matters for platforms relying on banking data.

  • How much transaction history can Open Banking return in the UK?

    How much transaction history can Open Banking return in the UK?

    Open Banking transaction history varies by bank. Learn how provider requests, bank support and consent timing affect historical data.

  • Automate Payroll Payments: What Changes After Payroll Is Approved

    Automate Payroll Payments: What Changes After Payroll Is Approved

    Automate payroll payments from an approved payroll payout, return the status of each employee’s payment and reconcile the completed payout against bank data. This guide explains where manual BACS work remains, how automated payroll software differs from payment automation and what finance and payroll teams should retain around approvals, bank details, exceptions and audit controls today.

  • Open Banking UK Regulation: Essential 2026 Guide

    Open Banking UK Regulation: Essential 2026 Guide

    Open banking UK regulation divides responsibility between the FCA and Open Banking Limited, with PSD2 as its legal foundation. This guide explains authorisation, AISP and PISP status, the 2026 regulatory changes, and what compliance leads and product managers should verify before building on an open banking provider.

  • Invoice Processing: Complete UK Guide for 2026

    Invoice Processing: Complete UK Guide for 2026

    Modern invoice processing turns received billing documents into approved, settled transactions. Understanding invoice processing in accounts payable requires evaluating data extraction, matching workflows and invoice processing solutions. By connecting workflow platforms to live banking data, finance teams eliminate manual keying while bridging the operational gap between payment execution and bank reconciliation.

  • Invoice Management Process: From Invoice Receipt to Reconciliation

    Invoice Management Process: From Invoice Receipt to Reconciliation

    An invoice management process takes an invoice from receipt through coding, matching, approval, payment and reconciliation. This article shows where invoice process automation can remove repetitive work, where finance teams still need controls, how to measure the workflow and how real-time banking data and payment references can connect invoices with the transactions that settle them.

  • Which API Gives 12 Months of UK Banking Transaction History?

    Which API Gives 12 Months of UK Banking Transaction History?

    Most UK Open Banking APIs can request twelve months, but whether you receive it depends on the connected bank and on when you ask relative to consent.

  • Open Banking for Small Businesses: A Practical UK Guide

    Open Banking for Small Businesses: A Practical UK Guide

    Open banking for small business gives smaller firms access to banking data and account-to-account payments through regulated providers. This guide explains small business payment processing, Pay by Bank, reconciliation, cash visibility and open banking payment initiation, including what businesses need to get started and where platform providers such as Finexer fit into the picture.

  • EPOS Systems UK: 7 Things to Check Before You Buy

    EPOS Systems UK: 7 Things to Check Before You Buy

    Comparing EPOS systems means looking beyond tills and software. This UK guide compares EPOS systems UK buyers consider, from retail to hospitality, then examines EPOS system benefits, payment costs, settlement and reconciliation. It also shows where UK Open Banking and Pay by Bank fit, without confusing payment infrastructure with the EPOS itself when choosing today.

  • Payroll Processing Software: 5 UK Tools Compared

    Payroll Processing Software: 5 UK Tools Compared

    Compare payroll processing software for UK practices and employers, including payroll processing software for accountants and payroll processing software for small business. This guide assesses HMRC recognition, bureau features, integrations, pricing models and the payment step after payroll. It also explains where payment execution, failed salary payments and reconciliation fit into the wider payroll workflow.

  • Rent Reconciliation: Why Matching Money to Tenancies Is Harder Than It Sounds

    Rent Reconciliation: Why Matching Money to Tenancies Is Harder Than It Sounds

    Rent reconciliation matches money received against rent due per tenancy, so arrears show up immediately rather than at month end. This guide covers why matching breaks down in practice, what makes it reliable, and how rental checks and a rental reference check fit into tenant screening separately, entirely apart from being confused with reconciliation itself.

  • Open Banking for Payments: Proven Merchant Guide

    Open Banking for Payments: Proven Merchant Guide

    Merchants evaluating open banking for payments want a direct comparison with cards on cost, settlement, and checkout experience. This guide covers how the open banking payment flow works, where it outperforms card rails, what its honest limitations are, and which UK business models get the most from it in 2026.

  • Affordability Check Rent: The Full Process, From First Enquiry to First Payment

    Affordability Check Rent: The Full Process, From First Enquiry to First Payment

    Running an affordability check rent process well involves comparing evidence properly, not just collecting a payslip and moving on. This guide covers how UK letting agents assess affordability, why submitted documents fall short, how rent collection is done after move-in, through standing orders, Direct Debits or bank authorisation, and what rent collection services typically cover.

  • Proof of Banking Details: What Actually Counts, and What Doesn’t

    Proof of Banking Details: What Actually Counts, and What Doesn’t

    Proof of banking details usually means a document or verified check confirming an account name, sort code, and account number belong to the named person or business. This guide covers what is proof of bank statement, what firms commonly accept and reject, and the alternative of verifying an account name directly against the bank record.

  • Screen Scraping: Why UK Firms Must Move to APIs

    Screen Scraping: Why UK Firms Must Move to APIs

    Screen scraping is under direct pressure after HMRC’s 2026 policy update reaffirmed that browser automation and robotic process automation breach Government Gateway terms. This guide explains what screen scraping is, what HMRC actually said, why regulated APIs already replaced it in banking, and what accounting platforms should audit in their stack now.

  • Payment Failure: Why It Keeps Happening and What Actually Fixes It

    Payment Failure: Why It Keeps Happening and What Actually Fixes It

    Every payment failure has a specific cause, and most payment failures follow familiar patterns across cards, Direct Debit and bank payments. This guide explains why they happen, how they affect revenue, and what to look for in a payment system for small businesses before failed collections become a recurring operational problem.

  • Build, Refer, or White Label: The Decision Most Platforms Get to Only Once

    Build, Refer, or White Label: The Decision Most Platforms Get to Only Once

    Choosing between building bank connectivity in-house, referring customers elsewhere or adopting white label finance solutions comes down to how much regulatory burden a platform wants to keep. This guide explains white label financial services against the other two routes, what regulatory reliance actually means and the criteria separating a strong provider from a weak one.

  • Alternative Payment Options: Best UK Methods Compared

    Alternative Payment Options: Best UK Methods Compared

    Cards are not the only option for UK merchants. Alternative payment options -from Open Banking and Direct Debit to digital wallets and A2A -each offer different trade-offs on cost, settlement speed, and chargeback exposure. This guide compares the most relevant UK payment methods so merchants can evaluate what fits their business model.

  • Open Banking APIs: UK Standards and Specs Explained

    Open Banking APIs: UK Standards and Specs Explained

    Two providers connecting to the same bank can behave differently, even though both follow open banking api standards. This guide explains what the UK Open Banking Standard actually mandates, what is left to each provider’s implementation, and how to read API documentation against the spec before you commit to an integration.

  • UK Financial Data: Verified Access Routes Explained

    UK Financial Data: Verified Access Routes Explained

    UK financial data can be accessed three ways: manual upload, credential scraping, or consented Open Banking connections. Only one is built for regulated, verified access at scale. This guide covers what UK financial data actually includes, how consent works, and what separates a legitimate access route from a declining one.

  • Open Banking Payment Initiation: How PIS Actually Works

    Open Banking Payment Initiation: How PIS Actually Works

    Open banking payment initiation lets businesses collect bank payments directly through a regulated payment initiation service, without card networks or intermediaries. Learn how PIS works, how Strong Customer Authentication protects every payment, and what to evaluate before choosing a provider for Pay by Bank integration.

  • Open Banking Data Sharing: How Secure Consent Works

    Open Banking Data Sharing: How Secure Consent Works

    Open banking data sharing lets customers grant regulated third parties read access to specific bank data, for a defined period, without ever sharing login credentials. This guide walks through the consent journey step by step, what permissions actually mean, and the privacy protections built into the model by design.

  • Inside Spending Data: What UK Platforms Actually Build Once the Merchant Names Are Right

    Inside Spending Data: What UK Platforms Actually Build Once the Merchant Names Are Right

    Spending data shows exactly where money goes, merchant by merchant, once transactional data is enriched with category, confidence, and location. This guide explains what spending data actually contains, how bank descriptors become usable merchant names, and what UK platforms build with it: budgeting, affordability views, and expense categorisation, without touching lending or credit decisions here.

  • Reconciliation of Payments: The Complete UK Guide for Finance Teams and Platforms

    Reconciliation of Payments: The Complete UK Guide for Finance Teams and Platforms

    Reconciliation of payments confirms that money recorded in your books has actually moved through the bank, but payment reconciliation still breaks more often than most UK finance teams openly admit. This guide explains what a bank reconciliation statement shows, why matching fails, what makes it solvable, and how platforms build dependable reconciliation of payments today.

  • Open Banking API Solutions: Solve Real Business Problems

    Open Banking API Solutions: Solve Real Business Problems

    Open banking API solutions are not one feature. This guide maps specific business problems, manual reconciliation, high card fees, payment fraud, to the exact capability that solves each one, and explains why most real fixes need two or more capabilities working together, not a single API call.

  • Open Banking API Examples: Real API Calls Explained

    Open Banking API Examples: Real API Calls Explained

    Open banking API examples walk developers through three core workflows: retrieving account data, initiating payments, and verifying account holders. This guide shows real request shapes, response structures, authentication flows, and the integration realities that separate documentation from production code you can actually ship.

  • Open Banking Payments: A Guide for UK Businesses

    Open Banking Payments: A Guide for UK Businesses

    Open banking payments move money directly between bank accounts, authorised by the customer and settled via Faster Payments. This guide explains how they work, compares them with cards and Direct Debit, covers variable recurring payments for subscriptions, and outlines what to evaluate before choosing an Open Banking payments provider.