Flywire expands Trustly open banking in North America

Flywire has expanded its partnership with Trustly to offer open banking payments in the US and Canada, extending a relationship that began in Europe.

Under the arrangement, payers in both countries can use Trustly's Pay by Bank service to make domestic and cross-border payments from their bank accounts to Flywire clients worldwide through ACH and Pre-Authorized Debit. The option is aimed at customers making larger local-currency payments without manually entering bank account details.

Users authenticate with their existing online banking credentials during checkout, replacing the manual entry of routing and account numbers common in traditional bank transfers.

North America is the latest addition to a partnership that has been in place since 2017, after several years of working together in Europe.

The companies are targeting payment flows where transaction size and certainty matter, including education, healthcare, travel, and business-to-business payments, where Flywire already has a presence. Flywire supports about 5,300 clients and handles payments in more than 140 currencies across more than 240 countries and territories.

How it works

Trustly's system allows payers to log into a bank account through its interface and authorise a transfer directly. The payment journey also includes status visibility and upfront information on processing timelines and pricing within Flywire's payment interface.

One feature the companies highlighted is real-time balance checking at the point of authorisation. Trustly said this can identify insufficient funds before a transaction is processed, reducing the risk of failed payments and non-sufficient funds returns.

For cross-border transactions, Flywire manages funds during the return window to reduce the likelihood of reversals after settlement. That is intended to give clients greater certainty that a payment will complete as expected.

The service also aims to avoid wire fees and other unexpected bank charges that can arise with conventional transfer methods. The companies present pricing transparency and fewer payment errors as key benefits for both payers and receiving organisations.

Kate Moran, Vice President of Global Payments at Flywire, outlined the rationale for the expansion.

"Our clients tell us their payers want modern, digital payment experiences that eliminate friction. This expansion delivers exactly that - a fully online payment option that improves accuracy, reduces payment failures, and gives payers real-time visibility into their transactions," said Kate Moran, Vice President of Global Payments at Flywire.

"We're applying the open banking infrastructure we've successfully scaled across Europe to North America, enabling our clients to confidently offer their payers a proven experience," Moran said.

Regional shift

The move comes as open banking payment models continue to spread beyond Europe, where regulatory frameworks and bank connectivity are more established. In North America, providers have had to navigate different technical and regulatory structures in the US and Canada.

Flywire said the rollout reflects its experience managing cross-border banking and compliance complexity across regions. The company positions the expansion as a way to give clients in North America a payment option already available in Europe.

Trustly also described the agreement as a step toward bringing account-to-account payments into higher-value and more sensitive transaction categories.

"We are thrilled to scale our partnership with Flywire to deliver the efficiency of open banking to high-stakes payment sectors. Our latest technology stack ensures that authorizing a payment is as simple as logging into your mobile banking application, paired with the backend risk-mitigation features that global enterprises require. Together with Flywire, we are helping define the next generation of Pay by Bank experiences across the U.S. and Canada," said a Trustly executive.

Trustly, founded in 2008, focuses on account-to-account payments through open banking connections. Boston-based Flywire combines payment processing with software used in accounts receivable workflows and has built much of its business around cross-border and high-value transactions.