Metro Bank collaborates with Bottomline Technologies to launch direct debit for SMEs

Metro Bank, a UK based retail and commercial bank, has partnered with Bottomline Technologies to enable a Direct Debit service for its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers. Metro Bank has become a direct participant in Bacs (previously known as Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services) which is Pay.UK-operated payment system.

With this partnership, the customers of Metro Bank will be able to create, automatically collect and manage payments with Direct Debit. According to UK Finance Payments in the UK report (July 2019) and UK Finance Business Payments Survey (March 2019), 76% of regular payments were done by Direct Debit and more than 15% and 30% of small business and medium business respectively accept Direct Debit as its method of payment.

“We’re seeing real transformation in the payments industry and this needs to benefit smaller SMEs too. By becoming a direct participant of Bacs and partnering with Bottomline Technologies, we will offer a best-in-class solution for our SME customers to collect payments via Direct Debit. By removing the complexity of regular payments we can save customers vital time, that can better be spent running and growing their businesses.” said Chief Commercial Officer at Metro Bank Paul Riseborough.

Metro Bank in 2019 had announced a partnership with Personetics, RMS Group Services, Funding Options, Conance, and DueDil as a part of company’s strategy to collaborate with UK’s fintechs and SMEs.