It has officially registered to be among the first users of the recently introduced SPAA program by the European Payments Council.

The purpose of SPAA is to make sure banks have the incentive to maintain their real-time payments infrastructure and application programming interfaces (APIs), while also maximizing the possibilities of open data access.

In 2019, Tink joined the SPAA Multi-stakeholder Group (SPAA MSG) as a founding member. The introduction of the SPAA Rulebook and Scheme Default Fees in November 2023, following five years of development, was a major turning point for account-to-account (A2A) payments in the EU.

This guidebook sets the standard for an industry-led strategy to leverage the dual advantages that come with fast payments and open banking.

"It's fantastic to be one of the first participants to join the scheme, having played a key role in shaping SPAA to this point," said Andrew Boyajian, vice president of payments and customer experience at Tink. Since the initial industry talks to establish the SPAA five years ago, Tink has been persuaded that the realization of attractive and competitive A2A payment solutions required a sustainable and profitable model that benefited all stakeholders.

But this is only the beginning. We want banks and other third-party providers to become members of SPAA in order to assist usher in a new chapter in A2A and provide European payments with choice and innovation.

According to Tink, SPAA can improve current payment flows, assist newly developing use cases, and provide better overall consumer experiences that can encourage greater use of digital payments throughout the EU.

With the help of its modular design, customers may combine various services and create unique payment solutions, like transactions with several beneficiaries or dynamic recurring payments. This flexibility reduces costs for retailers while also improving customer experiences.