No card machine. No hardware. Just a QR code and a bank app.
SafePay’s partnership with Finexer, the UK Open Banking infrastructure provider behind its checkout, lets therapists and tradespeople take payment on the spot at SafePay’s flat 0.4% fee, without ever buying a card reader.
Powered by Finexer, SafePay generates a QR code or payment link for every job. The customer pays directly from their own banking app, and the money settles instantly via Faster Payments, with no card details changing hands and no wait for card settlement.
“I needed a UK Open Banking partner with an API that could work for a small startup like mine but also handle serious scale.”
Steve Vaubell, Founder, SafePay
Solving the Card Machine Problem for Solo Operators
Card machines were built for shops with a counter, not for a plumber working out of a van or a therapist working from a spare room. Hardware, monthly rental and card processing fees on every transaction all eat into a job that might only be worth £60.
Therapists, electricians, beauticians and gas engineers share the same problem. They need to be paid the moment the job ends, not days later once a card payment clears through the usual rails.
Run the numbers on a £150 haircut-and-colour appointment, and the gap is clear. At an illustrative 3% card fee, the business would lose £4.50. SafePay’s flat 0.4% fee costs 60 pence, and the money is in the account before the client leaves the chair.
SafePay’s founder, Steve Vaubell, built the platform around that gap. Before Finexer, his challenge was finding an Open Banking partner whose commercial model and support suited an early-stage business as well as a large one.
Many Open Banking providers are set up mainly for larger, high-volume platforms. SafePay needed a partner that would work just as well for a small team taking one-off, in-person payments, and that is the role Finexer plays.
How Pay by Bank Replaces the Card Machine
SafePay runs on Finexer’s Payments service. A QR code or link triggers a Pay by Bank checkout, the customer authorises it at their own bank, and the payment settles instantly via Faster Payments straight into SafePay’s account.
The integration enables the following:
● QR-code and payment-link checkout, with no card machine or hardware
● Instant settlement via Faster Payments, account to account
● Coverage across almost all UK banks, high street and challenger alike
● FCA-authorised infrastructure underneath every transaction (FRN 925695)
● A single integration instead of bank-by-bank connections
Open Banking payments are no longer niche. Open Banking Limited reported 40.16 million payments across the UK in June 2026 alone.
A founder building a payments product usually assumes they need their own FCA authorisation before launch, and that assumption stalls a lot of early-stage ideas. SafePay never had to clear that bar itself.
It operates under Finexer’s existing authorisation as an Authorised Payment Institution, with Finexer as the FCA-authorised principal behind every transaction, which lets SafePay launch on a startup timeline rather than a licensing one.
“The ease of implementation and use is excellent.”
Steve Vaubell, Founder, SafePay
How SafePay Rates Finexer
SafePay rated Finexer Excellent in every category of its feedback, and each rating reflects a part of how the platform works day to day:
● Ease of implementation and use: SafePay connected once to Finexer’s Payments service and launched under Finexer’s FCA authorisation, so a small team could go live without building bank connections or applying for its own licence.
● Visual appeal: Checkout is a QR code or payment link that opens the customer’s own banking app, so paying takes a scan and an approval rather than a card terminal.
● Security: Customers authorise every payment inside their own bank’s app, and no card details change hands at any point.
● Performance: Payments settle instantly via Faster Payments, so a tradesperson can see the money before leaving the job.
● Pricing: Finexer’s commercial model suited an early-stage business, not only an enterprise budget.
● Support and working with Finexer’s team: Steve singles out the responsiveness of Finexer’s support team as the part of the partnership that surprised him most.
“The visual appeal, security, performance and pricing are excellent.”
Steve Vaubell, Founder, SafePay
A Flat Fee That Grows With the Business
Growth stays focused on the UK: more tradespeople, more therapists and ever more solo operators trading a card machine for a QR code. The gardener, the dog walker and the mobile beautician, often underserved by traditional card machines, are exactly the people SafePay is built for.
“We’re working with Finexer to scale into more industries that could benefit from quick, cost-effective payments.”
Steve Vaubell, Founder, SafePay
If SafePay needs income or identity checks alongside payments in future, Finexer’s Data and Verification services are available too.
The partnership works because neither side is guessing what the other needs next. SafePay’s customers want to be paid the moment a job ends, and Finexer’s infrastructure has to work the same way on the first transaction and the millionth. That consistency is what a solo tradesperson is actually buying into.
“What surprised me most was how responsive their support team has been. Support and working with Finexer’s team is excellent.”
Steve Vaubell, Founder, SafePay
“We would be very likely to recommend Finexer to other businesses.”
Steve Vaubell, Founder, SafePay
FCA-authorised Open Banking infrastructure for UK payment platforms, with a commercial model and support that work for founders just getting started, not only enterprise budgets.
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About the Author
Ravi Ranjan
Ravi Ranjan is Co founder & CEO of Finexer