Exclusive Interview with Johan Tjärnberg, Chief Executive Officer of Trustly
Trustly at a Glance: Building the Global Account-to-Account Payments Network
Trustly is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with major offices across Europe and North America, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Germany, Spain, and Malta. Founded in 2008, Trustly has grown into one of the global leaders in open banking-powered account-to-account (A2A) payments, connecting consumers, merchants, and financial institutions without relying on card rails.
Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Johan Tjärnberg, Trustly has expanded its Pay by Bank infrastructure across Europe and the U.S., positioning itself as a scalable alternative to traditional card acquiring. The company operates under regulated frameworks across multiple jurisdictions, leveraging PSD2 and open banking standards in Europe and NACHA/ACH rails in the U.S., combined with proprietary risk and authentication technology.
With strong growth in e-commerce, financial services, gaming, travel, and subscription-based businesses, Trustly continues to focus on instant payments, data-driven risk controls, and merchant conversion optimization.
Interview with Johan Tjärnberg, CEO of Trustly
Q1: Johan, where is Trustly positioned geographically today?
As CEO, I oversee a global footprint. Trustly operates across Europe and North America, supporting thousands of merchants and connecting to thousands of banks through open banking APIs and local clearing systems.
Q2: What regulatory frameworks support your operations?
In Europe, we operate under PSD2 as a regulated payment institution. In the U.S., we integrate with ACH and banking partners. Compliance, AML, and data protection standards are embedded into our platform architecture.
Q3: Can you summarize your background?
Before leading Trustly, I spent decades building and scaling fintech infrastructure businesses, focusing on payments, digital platforms, and regulated financial services.
Q4: What is the core product of Trustly?
Our primary solution is Pay by Bank—real-time or near real-time account-to-account payments. We remove card intermediaries, reduce interchange costs, and increase merchant margins.
Q5: Do you issue IBANs or wallets?
We do not operate as a retail bank issuing IBANs. Our role is enabling secure bank authentication and payment initiation between consumers and merchants.
Q6: What industries are your main clients?
E-commerce, gaming, travel, digital subscriptions, financial services, and marketplaces are key verticals.
Q7: How does Trustly handle risk and fraud?
We combine bank-level authentication, behavioral analytics, transaction scoring, and real-time risk monitoring. Our fraud models are built specifically for A2A payments.
Q8: What is your risk appetite?
We focus on low fraud, high authorization environments. We work closely with regulated banks and maintain strict onboarding and monitoring standards.
Q9: Do you support SEPA Instant?
Yes. In Europe, we leverage SEPA and SEPA Instant rails depending on bank connectivity and merchant requirements.
Q10: What about Open Banking capabilities?
Open Banking is at our core. We use secure APIs to initiate payments and access account data with customer consent.
Q11: How fast is merchant onboarding?
Depending on complexity and jurisdiction, onboarding can take several weeks, including compliance checks, KYB documentation, and integration testing.
Q12: What documentation is required?
Standard KYB documentation: incorporation certificates, UBO details, AML checks, and transaction projections.
Q13: Do you offer APIs and sandbox environments?
Yes. Our API-first infrastructure includes developer documentation, sandbox testing, webhooks, and reporting dashboards.
Q14: How is pricing structured?
We typically operate on a transaction-based pricing model, often more cost-efficient than card processing, particularly for high-ticket merchants.
Q15: How do you position against Stripe and Adyen?
While they focus heavily on card acquiring, Trustly specializes in direct bank payments, reducing dependency on card networks.
Q16: And against PayPal?
We offer a bank-native experience without wallet friction, often improving conversion and lowering fees.
Q17: What differentiates Trustly technically?
Our proprietary data intelligence and bank connectivity infrastructure. We control the full stack from authentication to settlement logic.
Q18: What recent developments are shaping your roadmap?
Expansion of Pay by Bank in the U.S., deeper instant payment integrations, and enhanced recurring payment capabilities.
Q19: How important is embedded finance?
Increasingly important. Merchants want payments embedded directly into checkout and platform flows without redirection complexity.
Q20: What is your 24-month vision?
Scaling global A2A acceptance, expanding into new geographies, and making Pay by Bank a mainstream payment option worldwide.
Competitive Landscape
Related Searches
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FAQ
Is Trustly a bank?
No, Trustly is a regulated payment institution specializing in A2A payments.
Does Trustly support instant payments?
Yes, through SEPA Instant and U.S. real-time banking integrations where available.
Is Trustly crypto-friendly?
It depends on regulatory and compliance alignment within each jurisdiction.
Conclusion
Under Johan Tjärnberg’s leadership, Trustly continues to scale as a leading open banking payments network. By focusing on direct bank connectivity, compliance-first operations, and API-driven infrastructure, the company positions itself as a structural alternative to legacy card-based acquiring models.
