A Payment Initiation Service Provider is a firm authorised under PSD2 to initiate payments directly from a customer’s bank account on their behalf, with explicit consent and through regulated open-banking APIs. PISP flows let a customer pay by bank transfer with the same friction as a card payment, while keeping fees low and settlement direct.
Travel payments glossary
PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider)
A regulated provider that can initiate payments from a customer’s bank account with consent.
Why it matters in travel
PISP-based open-banking payments are increasingly attractive in travel for high-value deposits and balances where card fees would be material. The customer authenticates inside their banking app, the merchant gets near-real-time confirmation, and there is no card chargeback path on the resulting payment.
For a tour operator taking £8,000 deposits, the difference between a 1.5% card fee and a flat PISP fee is hundreds of pounds per booking that drops straight to margin. Across a season it changes the economics of the brand, and it does so without making the customer experience worse — most customers find a banking-app prompt easier than entering a card number.
The trade-off PISP teams plan for is the absence of a chargeback rail. Disputes have to be resolved with the customer directly, which means the booking, communication and supplier-payment trail has to be in good shape from the start. Travel businesses that pair PISP with a clean booking-level record turn it into a margin win; those that bolt it on without changing operations create a different kind of dispute backlog.
How felloh helps
felloh treats PISP payments as first-class booking-level payments, with matching, settlement and protection context held in the same booking ledger as cards and other methods.
Where this shows up in compliance and protection.
PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider) touches more than one workflow at felloh. Start with the pages most travel teams reach for next.
- Compliance & Reporting
Prepare ATOL, APC, trust and audit evidence from live booking data — without a separate reporting layer.
Explore - Simplify ATOL & Trustee Reporting
Trust, escrow and protected-funds evidence drawn from the same record as the underlying payment.
Explore - Financial Protection Data
Authentication, settlement and protection evidence held against the booking for audit and regulator queries.
Explore
More on compliance and protection.
Real-world context from the felloh team and customers, written for travel finance and operations.
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Connect the dots.
See how payments, settlement, refunds and reporting evidence connect around every booking.