Quidkey: A Global Clearing House for Modern Payments

Founded in early 2023, Quidkey has quickly established itself as a trusted provider of next-generation Account-to-account (A2A) payments. Also known as 'Pay by Bank'. Leveraging AI-powered bank prediction, instant settlement, and a streamlined user experience, Quidkey is redefining how global businesses collect payments.

Chief Operating Officer Bhavna Saraf met CEO Rob Zeko and CTO Rabea Bader, Quidkey's co-founders, at the end of her time with Santander. They were pitching Quidkey's offering to top bank executives. The idea was simple but powerful:

• Democratising access to bank products amongst its customers through a single channel
• Leveraging and monetising its API stack for payments
• Providing value add services making open banking usable for businesses

"I remember thinking it wasn't a standard FinTech pitch," recalls Bhavna. "It was a real infrastructure story that was additive and complimentary to all ecommerce ecosystem players, merchants, banks, PSPs."

Rob believes A2A payments are the future of commerce, and merchants deserve simpler, faster and fairer ways to get paid. "We've built a model designed to scale responsibly," he notes. "Bhavna brings the operational layer we need to go global."

Rabea is responsible for technology and product at Quidkey. With a seasoned background in technology, he has developed the core engine driving Quidkey's diverse solutions. These include bank-prediction, instant settlement, and unified multi-provider orchestration.

"Our aim is to make the technology invisible," Rabea explains. "If it feels effortless for merchants, it means we've done the hard work well."

Together, Rob and Rabea laid the foundation. Bhavna's arrival added the operational layer needed to take Quidkey global.

Tell us about your approach to leadership at Quidkey…

Learning has always meant leaning into the unknown. It's not just about a strategy, but a mindset. Taking on new business lines, exploring unfamiliar customer segments, getting closer to technology, or entering new geographies have all been opportunities to stretch.

It's the same mindset that underpins my approach to leadership. That it's not just about hierarchy but influence. Creating an environment where people feel trusted, empowered, and part of something larger than themselves.

What drives and inspires you?

At the core of my journey is a relentless drive to deliver progress. Time is money. And… Impossible is nothing. Those words capture my pragmatism and optimism. Qualities that have guided me from scaling large enterprises to now building a nimble fintech.

Tell us about the genesis of Quidkey and its mission…

Quidkey was born from a simple idea, that merchants should be able to grow with confidence, scale sustainably, and offer customers a seamless payment experience, at home or abroad.

For too long, fragmented rails and card scheme costs have added friction to the payment ecosystem, especially hurting SMBs. Quidkey changes that. Our payment solution requires no change to the checkout experience, leverages existing customer-bank trust, and provides real-time settlement.

By cutting out unnecessary intermediaries and using Open Banking rails, Quidkey delivers faster, more transparent and cost-efficient payments, empowering merchants to grow and helping banks realise greater value from their infrastructure investments.

What industry challenges can Quidkey solve?

Payments today are still more complicated than they need to be. Merchants face high fees, chargebacks, and slow settlements, while banks and PSPs struggle to turn their Open Banking investments into meaningful revenue.

Quidkey bridges that gap. By simplifying how money moves between banks, fintechs, and merchants, we make payments faster, cheaper and transparent. The outcome is better liquidity and smoother experiences for everyone.

What benefits are your clients experiencing from Quidkey's approach to open banking?

Open banking adoption is accelerating fast. There are already more than 15 million UK consumers and small businesses taking advantage of open banking-powered services, generating two billion transactions just last year.

Quidkey is at the centre of this evolution, turning Open Banking into measurable value through intelligent settlements, stronger customer loyalty, and real returns on investment.

How easy is it for merchants to deploy Quidkey?

Quidkey offers easy integrations via Shopify plug-in, WooCommerce, or iFrame with set up in minutes… No code and zero impact to existing payment options – just faster payments that generate capital to grow your business.

With fair fees and no lock-ins, Quidkey's daily settlement can cut costs and optimise cash flow with product bundles designed for growth. Additionally, Quidkey delivers an Apple Pay–style one-tap experience, using AI to predict a user's bank and streamline checkout.

About Quidkey

Quidkey is a cross-border payments technology company enabling merchants to accept instant account-to-account payments across the UK, EU, and US. By operating alongside existing PSPs rather than replacing them, Quidkey makes it easy for businesses to offer bank-direct payment options with minimal integration effort.