Open Banking Excellence – Open Banking around the world

As I said on Friday, I’m posting the highlights of The Open Banking Excellence – Open Banking around the world webinar.  It was excellent.- Their webinars are always very interesting, view their schedule and –  join up here.

Yesterday Helen Child, the co-founder of Open Banking Excellence, the world’s leading community of Open Banking pioneers, held an extremely informative and engaging virtual campfire, as she calls them, with some great speakers from Google, Mastercard, Revolut, Accenture and Open Vector.  If you didn’t have a chance to tune in to OBE’s live streams, you’re missing out – sign up here.

For me, the main takeaways from yesterday’s discussion were (in no particular order):

• The UK has set the blueprint for Open Banking (OB): although many countries have developed OB initiatives the UK is being led by regulation, fostering innovation and a standardised approach.
• It is evident that regulation is very conducive to OB adoption as it helps define the trajectory and field of play.  Meanwhile, countries like Nigeria, Singapore and Brazil are also developing standards. However, they’re not binding, which means they may not be common across sectors.
• PSD2 was the catalyst for OB when the clear decision that data belonged to the customer was made and that they had the right to access their data.
• The global audience was very positive about the FCA and Bank of England and the way they have embraced and got behind OB.
• Some banks have not yet fully embraced OB as they don’t see clear benefits to them yet.
• In the UK, banks are required to perform quite extensive re-plumbing to connect with other parts of the ecosystem, including fintechs. At the moment, some banks see OB as a cost rather than a revenue stream.
• PSD2 spurred innovation by helping open up access to customer data. This, in turn, encouraged growth in the fintech sector and created new opportunities for banks and fintechs to potentially partner and collaborate.
• While the number of OB use cases and propositions may seem low, it’s growing.
• The observation was often made that in the UK the focus on OB is very strong, unlike anywhere else thanks to communities like Open Banking Excellence and the work of the Open Banking Implementation Entity, FCA and Competition and Markets Authority.
• The development of APIs is key for OB take-off and uptake. The banks could do more to develop these APIs.
• The general consensus was that H2H data exchange were coming to an end and cloud solutions with APIs were the future.
• The big data companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon will be key players in OB, but there needs to be more done to connect the ecosystem, including through APIs to banks, which hold customer data.
• Use cases of OB include:
  • Banking
  • Personal finance management
    • Better decision making
    • Real-time data analysis
  • Bookkeeping
  • Budgeting
  • Investments
  • Mortgages
    • Better affordability analysis
    • More relevant, useful and topical product/service offerings
  • Insurance
  • Credit Scoring
    • Easier loan application process
  • Blockchain
  • Automotive industry
    • Help choose the car you can afford
    • Determine the payment plan that suits a customers real circumstances
    • Pre-approve payment plans
• The key to success for OB is understanding the behaviour of customers.  What do they need, how is it delivered.
  • Gameboy
  • Xbox
  • Smart Phones
  • Smart Watches
  • Smart Devices
    • Utilities
    • Health
• Eventually with the proliferation of APIs and better access to data we’ll all be fintech’s.
• Banks shouldn’t feel threatened by OB, they should embrace it as it offers many benefits:
  • Financial Inclusion of unbanked people
  • Access to more data in the wider space
  • Less reliance on big data pools as data becomes more accessible
• Authentication and Identity made easier with OB
  • More data to identify and understand customers
• OB is for the benefit of the end customer
• OB will be a success when APIs are seen the same way as apps for Android and Apple – available and free

You heard it from me, now you can watch for yourself as the OBE campfire is now also available to watch on demand here.

John Doyle, Managing Director, The Payments Business

Emerging Payments Association Webinars and Training

The Emerging Payments Association has planned some really interesting webinars and training scheduled for the next couple of months.

The first is their training for payments 101 course.  Planned for 29th and 30th June.

The second is their webinar on Financial Inclusion, sponsored by: Mastercard on the 7th July 2020 at 11am BST to explore how the payments industry has responded to the current crisis.

For sign up details for all these events go to: The EPA Sign Up page

CommunityZ Chest – Brendan May In Conversation With Michael Mainelli

Background: Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.

This CommunityZ features Brendan May, the Founder & Chairman of Roberts Bridge Group – For details see here.

Payment News Headlines

All our Payment News Headlines can be viewed here 

Today’s Guest News Headlines are from:

Pymnts.com

• Forget Twitter And Instagram, Big Brands Are Moving To TikTok
  We’ve all heard the phrase “sing for your supper” — an allusion to days of yore where minstrels traveled the land. The best way for them to get the local nobleman to offer up a meal and a place to stay for the night was to butter him up with a jaunty tune. But as of this […]
• Amazon To Deliver Alcohol In West Bengal, India
  Amazon.com Inc. will soon enter West Bengal, India’s multi-billion dollar alcohol sales market, sources told Reuters. The West Bengal State Beverages Corp., the state agency that manages liquor licenses, granted approval for Amazon to sell liquor online, the news service reported. West Bengal is India’s fourth most populous state, with a population of more than 90 […]
• PayID: Bid For Universal Payments — Or Crypto Legitimacy?
  Universality is, well, universally, desired in business — particularly when it comes to technology and especially when it comes to person-to-person (P2P) payments. At a high level, allowing disparate and far-flung customers to interact with ease and pay one another across different types of devices, wallets and currencies means that commerce gets a bit more […]
• UK Financial Regulator Proposes Extended Grace Period Amid COVID-19
  A top British financial services regulator Friday proposed new regulations that could help borrowers bracing for the end of consumer protections implemented as COVID-19 bore down on the country. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced proposed guidelines for firms that issue credit cards and some other forms of consumer debt that could take effect as […]
• Profile Software Unveils FX Risk Management Tool
  In an effort to provide complete management of foreign exchange risk, financial solutions provider Profile Software rolled out its Acumennet eFX offering. The technology was created to help bank agents, digital channels, branches and customers handle their foreign exchange risk in an effectual as well as fast manner, according to an announcement. According to the announcement, […]