ISX Financial, part of the Xryma group, has partnered with Mastercard to take account-to-account payments across borders through its PaidBy platform. Mastercard's Open Finance capabilities are being integrated into PaidBy so consumers can pay merchants directly from their bank account in their own currency. Merchants in more than 60 countries will receive settlement in their chosen local currency on the next business day. PaidBy operates under an electronic money institution licence from the Central Bank of Cyprus.

What it means: Open banking account-to-account payments are cheaper than cards, but in Europe they remain largely national. A merchant selling into several countries has to connect with different providers, handle currency conversion and reconcile each flow separately. The ISX and Mastercard partnership tries to solve exactly that, combining Mastercard's reach with PaidBy's settlement and currency conversion infrastructure. There is an added regional angle: the group has Greek leadership and a Cypriot licence, so this is a solution developed close to the Greek market. For Greek online shops selling abroad, it could cut acceptance costs, provided customers are comfortable paying through their bank. Notifications when funds actually arrive, rather than when an instruction is sent, are a practical advantage for reconciliation. The venture will also be shaped by PSD3 and the PSR, which should improve the quality of open banking interfaces, and by competition from Wero and instant euro payments.

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