UniCredit Expands Open Banking Alliance With Worldline

Pan-European bank UniCredit is expanding its alliance with global payments firm Worldline to tap into its open banking third-party provider (TPP) service.

“As a leading and fast-growing paytech company, we want to support our clients to flourish in the API-driven economy beyond their regional markets and grasp opportunities from open banking and open finance,” Worldline Financial Services Chief Business Division Officer Alessandro Baroni said in a press release on Tuesday (April 19).

The partnership with Worldline enables UniCredit clients to link their accounts in other banks across Europe using a single application programming interface (API). UniCredit can then extend account information services (AIS), payment initiation services (PIS) and other business opportunities to its clients as well as Worldline’s customers.

UniCredit has been using Worldline’s Open Banking TPP service since 2020 and has extended the partnership for two additional years.

“As a tier 1 bank active in different European countries, we rely on support from a supplier with both scale and a cross-European presence in order to address the challenges and opportunities our customers are facing,” Luca Corsini, head of transactions and payments at UniCredit, said in the announcement.

“In the past two years, Worldline has proven their open banking capabilities by providing cost-effective reach across Europe and enabling the services that our customers require. In addition, we are currently also building further on the opportunities that arise from PSD2 and Open Banking,” Corsini added.

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Using Worldline’s API, UniCredit avoids having to establish separate connections with many different banks and as a result, gains cost-effective reach across Europe. Using Worldline’s opening banking infrastructure removes the complexity and friction that can come with having numerous diverse integrations. UniCredit customers also get a consolidated view of all their bank accounts, even at different banks, and can initiate an online payment using any banking.

Worldline is among the biggest open banking providers in Europe and has been actively working on PSD2/XS2A since 2014. It is committed to unlocking the full potential of open banking by reaching around 3.500 banks in 19 countries across Europe.

UniCredit is a pan-European commercial bank serving 15 million customers in Italy, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe.

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