Top 5 Benefits of IRIS Pay for Businesses: Lower Fees and Faster Payments

The cost of accepting payments is an important part of the financial efficiency of any business. With a high number of transactions, even a small difference in the cost of a single payment can turn into a significant annual expense. At the same time, customers expect payments to be fast, simple, and convenient – whether they are shopping online, paying in person, or receiving a payment link on their phone.

This is where solutions based on Open Banking and direct account-to-account (A2A) payments offer a different model. Instead of the payment passing through traditional card infrastructure, the funds are transferred directly from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s account.

IRIS Pay uses this model, allowing businesses to accept payments online, via payment links or QR codes, as well as through integrations with their own systems. The funds are not held by IRIS Solutions but are transferred directly to the bank account specified by the merchant.

What does this mean in practice? Here are five of the key benefits for businesses.

Why are modern businesses looking for an alternative to traditional card payments?

Card payments are familiar to both customers and merchants, but accepting them involves an infrastructure with multiple intermediaries. For businesses, this can mean higher payment processing costs, especially with high turnover and a large number of transactions.

At the same time, the way companies sell is changing. Payments are no longer accepted only at the checkout counter or on an online store’s checkout page. Orders now come through social media, messaging apps, email, phone, mobile apps, and various digital platforms.

Businesses therefore need a payment solution that can work across different channels while also optimizing costs.

With Open Banking payments, the connection between the customer and the merchant is more direct. IRIS Pay materials indicate that certain solutions and business models can reduce payment acceptance costs by up to 60% compared with POS terminals.

Benefit 1: Significantly lower costs and better control over every bank transfer fee

When evaluating the cost of a payment method, businesses should not look only at the advertised bank transfer fee or the percentage commission charged per transaction. What matters is the total cost of accepting payments.

With traditional solutions, this may include various components – percentage-based and fixed fees, POS infrastructure costs, monthly charges, or additional service fees, depending on the provider.

With the A2A model, payments are made directly between the customer’s and merchant’s bank accounts. This shortens the payment chain and creates opportunities for a more efficient pricing model.

The impact can be particularly significant for businesses with high turnover, as even a small difference in the cost per transaction adds up across thousands of payments.

Comparing card transaction fees with Open Banking fees

Card payments and Open Banking payments use different infrastructures.

With a card payment, the transaction passes through a card payment scheme and the parties involved in that infrastructure. With Open Banking, a payment can be initiated directly from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s account.

IRIS Pay states in its materials that certain solutions can provide up to 60% lower payment acceptance costs compared with POS terminals.

This is particularly important for businesses with a large number of transactions or a higher average order value, where payment processing costs have a direct impact on margins.

How IRIS Pay reduces the number of intermediaries in transactions

With IRIS Pay, funds are transferred from the customer’s bank account directly to the merchant’s designated account. IRIS Solutions does not hold the funds in an intermediary account.

The customer selects their bank, proceeds to their mobile or online banking, and confirms the payment there.

This keeps the process close to something the customer already knows – their own banking application – without requiring them to manually enter the details needed for a standard bank transfer.

Benefit 2: Faster access to funds

For businesses, it matters not only how much a payment costs but also when the funds actually reach the account.

According to IRIS Pay information, payments can be completed in around 10 seconds when the banking infrastructure supports this, or within the timeframe of a standard bank transfer.

This has a direct practical impact. Once payment confirmation is received, the business can more quickly:

• process the order;
• confirm a reservation;
• ship a product;
• activate a service;
• complete an in-person sale.

Faster receipt of funds also supports cash flow management, particularly for companies processing a large number of payments every day.

Another important advantage is that businesses do not need to open a special new bank account – they can use an existing account to receive the funds.

Benefit 3: Mobile management and flexibility with the IRIS Pay app

Not every business accepts payments exclusively through an online store or at a fixed checkout counter.

Freelancers, couriers, consultants, medical practices, hotels, retailers, and various service providers often need to request payments regardless of where they are.

This is where the IRIS Pay mobile solution allows a smartphone to be used as a tool for accepting digital payments. IRIS Pay materials describe an IRIS Pay app for iOS and Android that can be used to generate QR codes for payments.

This makes the IRIS Pay app a suitable solution for businesses that want to accept payments in person without relying on a physical POS terminal.

Easily generate payment links and QR codes

Depending on the sales model, businesses can use different tools.

A QR code is practical for in-person payments. The merchant generates the code, the customer scans it with their phone camera, and proceeds with the payment.

For remote sales, a payment link can be created and sent via email, SMS, Viber, or another communication platform. IRIS Pay also provides a web portal for creating and managing payment links and QR codes.

This means businesses can turn virtually any customer communication channel into a starting point for a payment.

Convenient control and payment tracking

When payments come through multiple channels, tracking them can become an administrative burden.

Digital management allows merchants to view created payment requests and information about completed payments in one place. The IRIS Pay portal, for example, provides a list of created payment links and QR codes.

For successfully completed payments, IRIS Pay also offers the option to issue a partial or full refund directly through the system.

This simplifies the daily work of teams responsible for processing orders, payments, and refunds.

Benefit 4: Lower risk associated with card fraud and chargebacks

With Open Banking, payments work differently from standard card transactions.

Customers do not provide their bank card details to the merchant. Instead, they select their bank, authenticate within their bank’s environment, and confirm the transaction there.

This means that the merchant does not need to process the card number, expiry date, or CVV for this type of payment.

A2A payments also do not follow the traditional card chargeback mechanism. This reduces the business’s exposure to certain types of card fraud and chargeback abuse.

However, this does not mean that all financial risks disappear. Businesses still need clear processes for refunds, customer disputes, and transaction control. IRIS Pay, for example, provides the option of issuing a partial or full refund for a successfully completed payment.

Benefit 5: A shorter payment process in a familiar banking environment

Every additional step at checkout can become a reason for a customer to abandon their purchase.

With a standard card payment, users may need to enter their card number, expiry date, and CVV, and then complete an additional authentication step.

With IRIS Pay, the process is different. The customer selects their bank, proceeds to the familiar environment of their mobile or online banking, and confirms the payment.

There is no need to enter card details, and with mobile banking, authentication can be completed using biometrics or another method supported by the bank. IRIS Pay materials describe a payment process completed in just a few clicks and with biometric authentication, without requiring the customer to install an additional application.

A shorter and more intuitive process can reduce friction at checkout and support higher conversion rates, particularly for purchases made on mobile devices.

Transform your company’s financial processes with IRIS Pay

The advantage of IRIS Pay is not limited to a single payment method. The solution allows different payment scenarios to be built on one Open Banking infrastructure.

Depending on how a business operates, it can use:

• IRIS Pay by Click – for direct payment integration into an online store checkout;
• IRIS Pay by Link – for sending payment links;
• IRIS Pay by QR – for QR code payments, either in person or remotely;
• mobile solutions for accepting payments;
• API integrations;
• integrations with proprietary systems;
• ready-to-use plugins for e-commerce platforms.

IRIS Pay also supports integrations and plugins for various e-commerce solutions, including WooCommerce & WordPress, Magento, PrestaShop, and OpenCart.

For businesses, this brings several important benefits together in one solution: a more direct payment model, opportunities to optimize costs, faster receipt of funds, multiple payment acceptance channels, and easier payment management.

In 2026, the question is no longer simply whether a business accepts digital payments. What increasingly matters is how much it costs to accept them, how quickly the funds arrive, and how easy it is for the customer to complete the payment.

It is precisely in these three areas – cost, speed, and customer experience – that Open Banking and IRIS Pay offer businesses an alternative to the traditional card payment model.