In focus: Trustly

Trustly is a global payment method. We link the world’s top brands with millions of consumers who instantly transfer, pay and get refunded in the most secure and convenient way. We forged a path for Open Banking, leading from the front to create a platform where we innovate beyond the sector we inspired.

We handle the entire payment journey at an unmatched scale, transforming the performance and experience of payments for over 8,300 merchants in 33 markets, connecting them to 650+ million consumers through 12,000 banks. We are a licensed Payment Institution under the second payment services directive (PSD2). We operate under the supervision of the Swedish Financial.

Trustly was founded in 2008 in Stockholm. Our first product was an instant payout service that could send funds directly into a user’s bank account. Trustly pioneered the creation of instant pay-outs by utilising intrabank connectivity – our innovation has redefined the speed and convenience of withdrawals for players, and is quickly becoming the industry norm across Europe and beyond.

Trustly went live with merchants in 2008 and added an instant pay-in product shortly after. The first investment round was completed in 2009 and the first office outside of Sweden was established in Malta in 2010. The company’s leadership team joined other pioneers in Open Banking to advise the EU on the sector’s needs and opportunities – leading, in part, to the creation of the landmark PSD2 regulatory framework.

Trustly expanded services to 21 new markets by 2015 and introduced Pay N Play in 2016 – a revolutionary gaming user onboarding product, which has since become the industry standard in Sweden, Finland and Estonia. In 2020, Trustly processed over SEK 19bn ($1.77bn) in transaction volume across the global network and connected around 2500 merchants and 1400 new banks, while broadening reach by more than 55 million consumers. By 2021, Trustly had surpassed $10bn in processed payments in North America alone.

Trustly is rooted in Open Banking but our unmatched bank connectivity and proprietary tech allows us to build, and innovate, beyond the sector we inspired.

• Trustly’s full-service capability offers a complete payment experience to merchants rather than simply initiating deposits. This includes management of collection, settlement, reconciliation and FX to drive efficiency for operators to aid a true plug-and-play payment method.

• Trustly has extensive bank coverage with a clear focus on payment solutions, as opposed to others who approach more with a data perspective. Add to this Trustly’s 15-year history and legacy of working with banks to resolve technical issues for a reliable platform with minimal errors.

• Trustly develops, owns and maintains its infrastructure end to end.

Competitors leverage the integration and technology of other services, which limits their ability to innovate and fully control the payment experience. With our roots firmly in the gaming industry, and with a solid track record of delivering success for operators in our home market of Sweden and beyond, we have developed strong relationships with leading gaming brands. We partner with over 300 of the top gaming brands. Our products are used across all gaming verticals, including sports betting and casinos. We launched our flagship player onboarding product Pay N Play in 2015 to great success. Pay N Play combines deposit and verification into one seamless flow for a speedy solution that improves conversion, reduces churn and slashes operational costs. Pay N Play is currently live in Sweden, Finland and Estonia, where it has transformed playerexpectations by significantly improving onboarding and simplifying verification. Pay N Play has established itself as the industry leader in those markets, and is now an essential part of the gaming ecosystem. Trustly expanded its next-generation Pay N Play product to the Netherlands in 2022, which combines end user data from three different sources with deposit to create an onboarding experience that takes three minutes, as opposed to the hours or days previously experienced. Pay N Play in the Netherlands signalled once again Trustly’s intention to improve experiences for both operators and players wherever the challenges are greatest. Trustly plans to continue expansion into the coming months and years, with Pay N Play UK already in the works and Denmark, Germany, France and Italy lined up for the future.