Standards/lloyds-link-pay
Lloyds Link Pay
Overview
Lloyds Link Pay is Lloyds Bank's UK Open-Banking-based payment-link + QR-code product for both consumer P2P money requests and merchant acceptance 2, United Kingdom report. Lloyds adds "Link Pay" feature to banking app enables Lloyds customers to generate a unique secure link or QR code straight from the app for friends and family — regardless of recipient's bank — using UK Open Banking standards. Lloyds × Mastercard Open Banking partnership (announced July 2021) extends the same architecture for merchant checkout as PayFrom Bank — consumers pay merchants directly from bank accounts without entering payment details.
Lloyds is the largest UK retail-bank by deposits and one of the most active UK Open Banking innovators. Lolly × Lloyds Pay by Bank partnership extends Link Pay to self-service kiosks in hospitality — customers select Pay by Bank, scan QR, complete in mobile banking app, funds transferred directly to retailer's account in real-time. The structural pattern is the UK's broader Open Banking → Bank-redirect payment approach — similar in spirit to Netherlands' iDEAL QR but built on Open Banking PSD2 APIs rather than a national bank-consortium-coordinated scheme.
History
Background — UK Open Banking United Kingdom report:
- PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2) → UK Open Banking mandated 2018.
- CMA9 (nine largest UK banks including Lloyds) required to expose APIs.
- Open Banking-payments emerge gradually 2019-2023.
July 2021 — Mastercard × Lloyds Open Banking checkout partnership 3:
- Announced Mastercard Open Banking Merchant Payment Solution + Lloyds PayFrom Bank.
- Merchant checkout from bank account without card-data entry.
Lloyds Link Pay feature added to banking app 2:
- Lloyds customers can generate unique secure link or QR.
- Pre-populates payment details for recipient.
- Recipient picks their bank, opens their banking app, makes payment.
Lolly × Lloyds Pay by Bank for kiosks [lolly]:
- Lolly (UK hospitality tech) partners with Lloyds.
- Self-service-kiosk Pay by Bank with QR scan + mobile-banking-app completion.
- Real-time funds transfer to retailer's account.
Technical specification
Lloyds Link Pay is a UK Open-Banking-based payment-link + QR product 2, 3:
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Operator | Lloyds Banking Group |
| Underlying tech | UK Open Banking (PSD2 PIS) |
| Card-network partner | Mastercard (Open Banking Merchant Payment Solution) |
| Currency | GBP |
| Format | Unique secure link + QR code |
| Distribution | Lloyds banking app + merchant integrations |
| Cross-bank reach | Recipient/payer can use any UK bank app |
| Sub-product | PayFrom Bank (merchant checkout) |
| Kiosk extension | Lolly × Lloyds Pay by Bank for hospitality |
Link Pay flow (P2P money request) 2:
- Lloyds customer creates Link Pay request in Lloyds app.
- Link/QR encodes payment details.
- Recipient picks their UK bank, opens banking app, completes payment via Open Banking PIS.
- Funds arrive in Lloyds customer's account.
PayFrom Bank flow (merchant) 3:
- Merchant customer selects Pay by Bank at checkout.
- Scans QR or selects bank.
- Authenticates in own banking app.
- Funds transfer directly to merchant's account.
Lolly kiosk flow [lolly]:
- Customer at self-service kiosk selects Pay by Bank.
- Scans QR.
- Completes in own mobile banking app.
- Real-time merchant credit.
Use cases
P2P money requests (Link Pay) 2: Lloyds customer requests money from friends/family by link or QR.
Cross-bank reach 2: Recipient can pay from any UK bank — Open Banking interop.
Merchant checkout (PayFrom Bank) 3: Direct bank-to-bank payment at e-commerce + retail.
Self-service kiosks (Lolly × Lloyds) [lolly]: Hospitality kiosk acceptance.
Charity donations + invoice collection 2: Versatile use cases.
Implementations & ecosystem
Operator: Lloyds Banking Group.
Open Banking technical partner: Mastercard Open Banking Merchant Payment Solution (for PayFrom Bank).
Hospitality-kiosk partner: Lolly (UK hospitality tech).
UK Open Banking ecosystem: All CMA9 banks (Barclays, HSBC, RBS/NatWest, Lloyds, Santander, etc.) + smaller banks + fintechs.
Fun facts
- Lloyds is one of the most active UK Open Banking innovators: Among the CMA9 banks, Lloyds has invested significantly in consumer-facing Open Banking products.
- Mastercard partnership for Open Banking merchant checkout: Mastercard's Open Banking Merchant Payment Solution + Lloyds PayFrom Bank — Mastercard expanding into bank-account-direct payments, hedging against card-disintermediation risk.
- Lolly × Lloyds for kiosks: Self-service-kiosk Pay by Bank illustrates Open Banking expansion into physical-retail-kiosk scenarios.
- Cross-bank reach via Open Banking: Customers of any UK bank can pay Link Pay requests via their own bank app — Open Banking enables this universal reach without bank-consortium agreements.
- PSD2 → UK Open Banking → Lloyds Link Pay: A 7-year arc from EU PSD2 mandate (2015) to fully-fledged consumer-facing UK bank-Open-Banking product. Slower than initially-expected Open Banking productisation.
- Real-time UK bank-to-bank transfer: Funds arrive instantly via UK Faster Payments rail underneath.
- No card-network interchange: Bank-to-bank direct payment bypasses Visa/Mastercard interchange fees — lower MDR for merchants.
Comparison
| Feature | Lloyds Link Pay (UK) | iDEAL QR (NL) | EPS (AT) | giropay (DE) | Bizum (ES) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Lloyds Banking Group (single bank) | Currence (NL banks) | Joint AT banks + Gov | DK card-issuers | Bizum SL |
| Underlying tech | UK Open Banking (PSD2) | Currence scheme | EPS scheme | giropay scheme | Iberpay SCT Inst |
| Cross-bank reach | Yes (Open Banking) | Yes (NL banks) | Yes (AT banks) | Yes (DE banks) | Yes (consortium banks) |
| QR support | Yes | Yes | n/a | n/a | Yes |
| Underlying rail | UK Faster Payments | Equens worldline / SCT Inst | EPS infra / SEPA | giropay infra / SEPA | Iberpay SCT Inst |
Closest peer: iDEAL QR (NL) — both bank-coordinated bank-redirect payment products with cross-bank reach. Lloyds Link Pay differs by being single-bank-issued atop Open Banking rather than bank-consortium-coordinated.
Status
Active, growing UK Open Banking product 2, 3:
- Lloyds Banking Group operator.
- Open Banking-based link + QR.
- Mastercard Open Banking Merchant Payment Solution integration for merchant checkout.
- Lolly × Lloyds Pay by Bank for hospitality kiosks.
- Real-time UK Faster Payments settlement.
Sources
- 1 Lloyds Bank — official
- 2 Lloyds Link Pay — Open Banking Expo
- 3 Mastercard × Lloyds Open Banking checkout
- lolly Lolly × Lloyds Pay by Bank
- United Kingdom report
reports/countries/GB-united-kingdom.md
Deployments
Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):
- GB — GB-united-kingdom.md