Open banking
Regulated APIs that let licensed third parties access bank accounts on a customer’s behalf.
Open banking is the regulatory framework that lets licensed third parties access bank accounts on a customer’s behalf, with explicit consent and through standardised APIs. In the UK and EU it is driven by PSD2 and supports two main flows: account information (AIS) and payment initiation (PIS). Done well, it offers bank-to-bank payment, balance and transaction insight, and account verification.
felloh runs open banking payments for travel.
Account-to-account payments matched back to the booking they cover — lower fees, faster settlement, no card-network surcharges.
What it means for travel businesses.
Open banking is increasingly used in travel for high-value deposits and balances where card fees would be material, for verifying customer bank details before refunds, and for matching incoming bank transfers automatically. It also gives travel businesses an alternative payment rail when card acceptance becomes constrained.
The fee economics are what get travel finance teams interested in open banking, but the operational benefits are what keep them. A bank-to-bank payment lands without a card chargeback rail, with clean reference data and at near-real-time speed — exactly what a tour operator needs when a balance is due against a non-refundable supplier commitment. The same rail also makes refunds cleaner because the bank details are already verified.
Open banking will not replace cards in travel, but it does change the mix in a way that compounds. Customers paying high-value bookings increasingly prefer it once they have used it, AISP-based account verification removes a step from refund handling, and the absence of scheme fees on every transaction shows up as a tangible margin lift across a season.
How felloh handles it.
felloh keeps open-banking payments and account-information signals tied to the booking ledger so finance teams get the benefit of the lower fees without losing reconciliation visibility.
The pay checkout supports Crezco-powered open-banking flows alongside cards, and the dashboard’s Transactions, Cashflow and Bank Accounts views treat the resulting payments as first-class booking-level events. AISP-connected accounts surface inbound bank flows matched against the bookings they relate to.
For travel businesses moving deposits and balances onto open banking to recover card-fee margin, the operational picture stays intact. Refund handling, dispute defence and reconciliation all work the same way against the same booking record — and the margin improvement is visible at brand level.
Related terms.
PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider)
A regulated provider that can initiate payments from a customer’s bank account with consent.Read termGlossary termAISP (Account Information Service Provider)
A regulated provider that can read bank account information with the customer’s consent under PSD2.Read termGlossary termPSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2)
EU regulation that introduced strong customer authentication and opened bank accounts to licensed third parties.Read termGlossary termBank transfer
A payment made directly between bank accounts rather than over a card scheme.Read termGlossary termAlternative payment method (APM)
Any payment method other than the major international card schemes.Read termSee how this works around your bookings.
Bring one payment, reporting or cash-position problem. We will show how felloh connects the booking-level money trail behind it.
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