NatWest teams with Endava to modernise Tyl payments

NatWest has formed a strategic partnership with Endava to modernise Tyl, its merchant payments business, with a focus on services for small and medium-sized businesses.

The project will overhaul Tyl's payments ecosystem and support the rollout of more integrated payment products. Tyl is NatWest's payments arm for merchants that take card payments in person, online and over the phone.

The partnership comes as established banks face stronger competition in merchant acquiring from fintechs and specialist payments providers. Lenders are also under pressure to update older systems as merchants demand simpler tools that connect payment acceptance with wider business software.

Endava will provide technology and delivery support, drawing on its payments expertise and AI-led development model. The work is intended to help Tyl bring new products and services to market more quickly while improving flexibility across the payments process.

NatWest and Endava have already worked together on a business and technology strategy linked to market opportunities and expected revenue growth. This suggests the project goes beyond a narrow systems refresh and forms part of Tyl's broader commercial plans in UK merchant payments.

For NatWest, the move signals continued investment in a business aimed at smaller companies seeking card acceptance and settlement services from a major bank. Tyl serves both NatWest customers and businesses outside the group, giving the lender access to a broader merchant base.

James Hodgson, chief executive of Tyl by NatWest, said the bank wants to improve how merchants access and use payments services as competition intensifies.

"Partnering with Endava marks a significant step forward in the evolution of our merchant payments offering. Our ambition is to deliver a seamless, fully integrated experience that enables our customers to grow faster and operate more efficiently. By combining our market position with Endava's technology expertise, we are accelerating innovation, unlocking new revenue opportunities and ensuring we remain highly competitive in a rapidly changing payments landscape," Hodgson said.

Competitive pressure

Merchant payments has become a key battleground for banks as digital-first rivals win business with newer software, integrated checkout tools and faster product updates. Traditional players have often struggled with fragmented infrastructure, making it harder to adapt services for retailers, hospitality groups and other small businesses.

Tyl's offering includes card payments in store, by telephone and online, alongside next-working-day settlement and data-led tools for merchants. The latest partnership suggests NatWest wants to strengthen that proposition by making it easier to add new features and connect different parts of the payments journey.

Endava said the work will build on a long-standing relationship with NatWest. For the technology group, the agreement adds to its roster of large financial services projects at a time when consulting and engineering firms are seeking more work tied to modernisation in regulated industries.

Melba Montague, chief growth officer for financial services at Endava, highlighted the companies' existing ties and the focus on changing how Tyl's platform operates.

"This partnership reflects the strength of our long-standing relationship with NatWest and our shared commitment to driving meaningful transformation in payments," Montague said. "By combining our AI-native approach, multidisciplinary teams and deep industry expertise with accelerators such as Dava.Flow and our Payments Gateway, we enable faster delivery of high-impact solutions that directly link technology investment to business outcomes. Together, we are helping Tyl build a more agile, scalable and future-ready platform, modernising its ecosystem, simplifying complexity and delivering differentiated customer experiences at scale."

Sector backdrop

Endava has worked across banking and payments for more than two decades, according to the company, and has increasingly positioned itself around large transformation programmes. Its clients in banking, retail, automotive and travel are seeking help with platform modernisation, system integration, foreign exchange and end-to-end payment orchestration.

That broader context matters for NatWest because merchant payments is no longer a stand-alone card processing business. Merchants increasingly expect providers to support online and physical sales channels together, offer clearer data insights and fit into back-office systems without requiring heavy technical work.

NatWest has not disclosed the financial terms of the agreement. Endava employs 11,385 people across Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.