Estonia is a market where, in e-commerce payments, the method of the consumer approving a transfer through bank authentication has long been the standard, so acceptance of open-banking-based bank transfer payments is comparatively high even by European standards. Trustly is an open-banking PSP operated by Sweden's Trustly Group AB, covering banks across Europe—including the Nordics and the Baltics—through a single integration via PSD2 APIs, with consumers approving payment on their own bank's familiar authentication screen.

From a merchant's perspective, the advantage is being able to open up bank transfer payments as a bundle without integrating individually with each bank, and it's especially worth considering for gaming and digital services that want to avoid card-network fee and chargeback structures, or for travel and marketplace-type businesses with frequent customer refunds. Its role differs from accepting generic SEPA transfers—it's a matter of 'single PSP integration' versus a 'generic transfer route.'

When the consumer selects Trustly on the checkout screen and chooses their bank, they log in through that bank's authentication process (in Estonia, an electronic ID method such as Smart-ID or Mobiil-ID) and approve the transfer. This bank authentication itself fulfills PSD2's SCA (Strong Customer Authentication), and since no card number is entered, the risk of card-data leakage is structurally excluded. The result is notified to the merchant immediately upon approval, and Hecto Financial receives the funds in euros.

Integrating through Hecto Financial lets a domestic corporation consider accepting Trustly-based bank transfer payments without contracting directly with Estonian banks. Actual support eligibility and terms (settlement cycle, fees, currency options, covered bank scope) vary by industry and transaction volume, so confirm with Hecto Financial's sales team before signing a contract.

• Business registration country

  Confirm contract eligibility based on domestic business registration

• Sales channel

  The integration method and priority vary depending on your online sales channel mix—owned mall, open marketplace, mobile app, and so on

• Product category

  Check in advance whether your products fall under categories restricted by Trustly's merchant policy

• EU regulatory compliance

  Confirm compliance with EU payment regulations such as PSD2 and SEPA (see official sources below)

Euro (EUR) funds approved via Trustly are received and converted by Hecto Financial before being paid out to the domestic merchant, with the payout currency chosen from USD, KRW, or JPY at the time of contract. The settlement cycle follows the contract terms. Given the nature of bank transfers, there is no card-style chargeback, but refunds require a process of sending funds back to the consumer's account, and since EU consumers exercising a 14-day right of withdrawal must be refunded without delay, confirm the refund-processing deadline before contracting.

• Eesti Pank (Bank of Estonia)Official information on Estonia's payment systems and related regulations. If this page's content differs from the actual regulations, the official sources take precedence.