Open Banking: Finance’s Future?

Open Banking is rapidly changing the way people manage their finances. In the UK between January and September 2020, the number of customers using Open Banking-enabled products rose to over 2 million. With the pandemic heralding a significant increase in online banking, it’s not hard to see why more customers have embraced Open Banking and the opportunities it offers, including integrated accounts, financial advice apps and potentially swifter payments.

However, Open Banking faces a challenge in the form of trust. An ING survey carried out in October 2020 across Europe showed that only 30% of retail banking customers were comfortable with their bank accounts being shared with third-party providers (TPPs), even if they had given the provider prior permission to do so.

So, how open is Open Banking? 

Trusting Open Banking

Trust is crucial when it comes to finances. The means of Open Banking have to be safe in order to secure customer buy-in. Open Banking inherently involves allowing TPPs access to their accounts, so naturally customers will want to feel assured that both the TPPs are trustworthy and that their data can be communicated securely between their bank and the TPP. If trust in either of these contexts isn’t forthcoming, then customers will likely lose faith in Open Banking altogether.

In the UK, there has been a considerable lack of trust in Open Banking services, especially in relation to Big Tech companies. A Duedil and Credit Data Research survey in 2017 found that only 3 in 10 consumers were willing to grant institutions such as Apple and Google access to their accounts for the purpose of integrating and consolidating their finances, while the ING survey of October 2020 showed a reduction in this number in the UK to 23% of respondents.

There could be multiple reasons for this, including the way these companies are occasionally portrayed in the media, yet arguably much of this stems from a lack of awareness about what Open Banking entails. In May 2019, almost a year and a half after Open Banking was first introduced to the UK, over two-thirds of retail banking customers told a Crealogix survey that they had no awareness of what Open Banking was and how it could benefit them.

Awareness is naturally a determinant of whether trust is afforded to something or someone. The onus is on banks and TPPs to better define Open Banking to their customers if they want to sustain the growth seen during 2020.

Healthy Competition Through Open Banking

One of the main drivers behind Open Banking is the fostering of a more competitive environment in financial services. Open Banking was introduced with lofty aims, chief of which was to democratise the industry and implement a level playing field between traditional banks and FinTech start-ups. But how far have these aims been achieved in the three years since its introduction in the UK?

On this score, there is still room for improvement. Some TPPs have been shut out of the Open Banking space due to resource deficiencies, with strict regulatory requirements needing to be followed to access Open Banking infrastructure. This includes receiving approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after demonstrating policy, data storage, security and IT practices compliance, a clear business model, as well as possession of professional indemnity insurance. Many TPPs are small, nimble outfits and many were not built to deal with such regulatory hurdles. While regulation is clearly important and necessary in obtaining customer trust, it may reduce the agility that Open Banking promises to financial services – and, subsequently, the competition that exists in Open Banking.

The Future’s Open

While Open Banking faces many challenges, the current climate in financial services is likely to have a positive effect on its development in future. 73% of banking customers in the UK used online banking services weekly in 2020, so there’s clear scope for Open Banking to make their lives easier and enable better management of finances in these testing times. The introduction of PSD2 in Europe has, since its implementation in 2018, made Open Banking a legal requirement for banks, meaning customers have had constant exposure to the opportunities it offers: from smooth digital payments to integrated account views. 

With digital transformation at the top of every financial institution’s agenda in the wake of the pandemic, the opportunities open to Open Banking have become even more vast.

Discover more about the challenges faced as finance becomes more open in our white paper on Open Banking and PSD2.

Ready to enhance your Open Banking capabilities? Speak to Christian Schultz who will be delighted to help you realise smooth and swift digital payments.