Acquired joins UKPI as founding shareholder

London, UK, 02 June 2026 — Acquired, the next-generation payments platform redefining recurring payments, today announces its role as a founding shareholder of the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI), the new industry-led scheme launched at Money20/20 Europe to scale account-to-account payments.

Aligned with the UK Government’s National Payments Vision, the launch marks a major milestone for open banking payments, creating a shared framework for commercial Variable Recurring Payments (commercial VRPs). This will enable consumers to use open banking for recurring payments to businesses and government. Consumers can approve payments through their bank, with clear parameters on amount, timing, and frequency, while businesses get a more reliable way to collect recurring payments without relying on card details that can expire or on traditional Direct Debit processes that can be less flexible. Together, this supports the development of a credible alternative to existing Card and Direct Debit models.

Through its established Convert, Retain and Recover framework, Acquired will apply commercial VRPs across the full recurring payments lifecycle: intelligently onboarding customers when best suited to their needs at sign-up; using fund availability checks ahead of each collection to optimise payment success and keep customers active; and automatically migrating payers from cards or Direct Debit at points of friction such as mandate cancellation or card expiry, reducing breakage and recovering lost revenue. This will play a key role in UKPI’s work to accelerate the adoption of commercial VRPs and wider open banking payments.

This position builds on Acquired’s existing Pay by Bank product family, including one-off open banking payments and Sweeping VRPs, which allow customers to move money between their own accounts. Commercial VRPs represent an extension of the firm’s existing capability onto a new commercial rail, rather than the company’s first move into open banking.

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The launch of UKPI is a major moment for the future of account-to-account payments in the UK. For the first time, the industry has a scheme designed to make open banking payments work for recurring use cases at scale.

As a founding shareholder, Acquired is backing that shift and taking a leading role in the development of commercial VRPs. We believe they can increase choice in UK payments and give businesses a more flexible, secure and effective way to manage recurring customer relationships.

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For those of us who have been working on open banking since PSD2 and pushing for recurring open banking payments to scale, the launch of UKPI feels like a real full-circle moment. There is still work to do, but with major banks and fintechs now aligned behind a shared framework, this feels like a tipping point for the accelerated adoption of commercial VRPs in the UK.

This will spark much-needed disruption to an industry that has not faced a true challenge to Card or Direct Debit for decades. For too long, businesses have faced challenges when repeat payments fail, especially when central to revenue, retention and customer experience. Our multi-rail platform helps businesses optimise every stage of the recurring payments lifecycle, from converting customers at sign-up to transitioning them at key points of friction, improving retention and enhancing the customer experience.

As the UKPI moves into market rollout, Acquired will work with industry participants and businesses to support the development and practical adoption of commercial VRPs across the UK.

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Labeeb Hussain, Hawthorn Advisors — quint@hawthornadvisors.com