Interview: Brite Payments CEO on FCA EMI licence, open banking and autonomous AI commerce

The open banking space has consolidated around a clear set of account-to-account payment players, while merchants continue to seek faster, lower-cost alternatives to cards.

In this interview, Brite Payments’ founder and CEO Lena Hackelöer discusses the company’s expansion into the UK after securing its FCA EMI licence, its focus on deepening its business across Europe, and the role of customer consent as AI agents start buying on consumers’ behalf.

EPI: To help ground our understanding of Brite’s scale, could you walk us through your core offering, and what kind of annualised transaction volume are you looking at right now?

Lena Hackelöer: Brite Payments focuses on instant account-to-account payments, also known as Pay by Bank. We handle both real-time payments at checkout and payouts for online businesses across Europe.

Rather than routing transactions through non-EU card networks, we connect directly to local banking infrastructure across 27 European markets through our own proprietary network, Brite IPN. It gives merchants a faster, lower-cost alternative to cards with instant settlement and zero chargeback risk, providing a ready-made infrastructure needed for true European payment sovereignty.

EPI: You hit profitability before your $60m Series A, which is rare. How much of that cash is still sitting on the balance sheet?

Lena Hackelöer: We raised a $60m Series A in 2023 with expansion in mind and, since then, have launched in a number of strategic European markets in quick succession, with the latest being the UK. The coming years will focus on benefiting from that market expansion while prioritising profitability.

EPI: Now that you have your UK FCA EMI licence, what sort of merchant numbers are you chasing in the UK over the next year?

Lena Hackelöer: Securing our FCA EMI licence was a huge milestone for us, especially since expanding into the UK was something our existing European merchants had been asking for. They wanted one seamless solution to handle checkouts on both sides of the English Channel.

We will focus on key sectors where instant payments and payouts make the biggest difference for both merchants and consumers. Mainly financial services, e-commerce, travel, utilities, gaming, and charities.

EPI: With operations in 27+ European markets, is your next phase focused on further geographic expansion or deepening volume in your core regions?

Lena Hackelöer: Our next phase will be focused on deepening our business in the 27 markets we are already present in and continuing to bring an independent payment method to Europe.

EPI: The open banking space is incredibly crowded. What is the one specific technical metric where your network beats established rivals?

Lena Hackelöer: As the early open banking space has consolidated, a clear set of A2A key players has emerged. At Brite, our core differentiator is our proprietary network, Brite IPN—the engine that routes and reconciles funds without intermediaries.

Beyond growing sustainably and continually reinvesting in our product, we also deliver instant payments in under 30 seconds. However, anyone can build a fast product. Customer care matters just as much. We back our technology with 99% network uptime and a 95% customer satisfaction score.

EPI: Looking ahead, as autonomous AI agents start buying things for consumers, how should payment networks handle customer consent and liability?

Lena Hackelöer: Because each A2A payment is authenticated by the customer using their bank’s usual ID method, customer consent always comes first. Separately, as AI agents start buying on our behalf, the open questions are how to safely delegate that consent and who is liable if an agent gets it wrong. Those questions need clear rules from regulators and industry, and payment providers will need to work closely with both.

Electronic Payments International also asked Hackelöer about Brite’s hiring targets this year and whether the company had established a timeline for an IPO. As a private company, however, Brite said it “doesn’t share hiring targets or comment on IPO plans.”