Barclaycard Payments Adds Visa Unified Checkout to Smartpay Fuse Gateway

Barclaycard Payments has embedded Visa's Unified Checkout technology into its Smartpay Fuse payment gateway, bringing a single interface for multiple payment methods to UK merchants.

The solution lets businesses accept credit and debit cards, Click to Pay, and digital wallets alongside non-card options such as Pay by Link and digital invoicing. According to Visa, the rollout is designed to streamline payment acceptance and boost ecommerce conversion rates.

The platform runs on a modular API architecture that supports low-code deployment, allowing merchants to introduce new payment methods without overhauling their technical stack.

The setup aims to deliver more uniform customer experiences across channels while reducing friction at checkout. Businesses can extend functionality as new payment types emerge, without rebuilding the integration each time.

Dan Parsons, head of Value Added Services at Visa UK & Ireland, said the goal is to help merchants tap into innovation without repeated technical work.

As payments evolve, we want to make it easier for merchants to tap into new innovation without having to rebuild their checkout each time. Our Unified Checkout solution helps acquirers and their merchants offer payments to everyone, everywhere with ease.

Ben Stagg, Mid-Corporate head at Barclaycard Payments, emphasised the platform's role in futureproofing merchant infrastructure.

By bringing Visa's Unified Checkout solution into Smartpay Fuse, we're helping merchants through streamlined processes to simplify payment acceptance through a single, future-ready integration that strengthens security, improves visibility and adapts to evolving customer expectations.

The integration extends a long-term partnership between Visa and Barclaycard covering payment processing and merchant acquiring services.

It follows wider digital asset and payment pilots across Visa's UK network. Recently, Lloyds Banking Group partnered with Visa to complete a live pilot testing stablecoin-based settlement for cross-border transactions.