FDATA North America May 2022 Newsletter

by rebecca

Welcome to FDATA North America’s monthly newsletter! These regular dispatches will share developments from our organization and our 30+ member companies, all of which are promoting financial access and inclusion with open finance use cases. We also include a list of upcoming industry events, and coverage of any market developments that impact fintech innovators.

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FDATA North America Responds to CFPB Request for Information (RFI) on ‘Junk Fees’. FDATA used this opportunity to once again urge the CFPB to prioritize an open banking rulemaking under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, an action which would create a long-overdue consumer financial data right in the United States. The letter states that FDATA believes the most practical remedy to reducing predatory fees in the financial ecosystem is to implement an open finance regime in the United States, stressing that “the center of such a framework must be an unambiguous and legally binding customer financial data right, which would ensure that consumers and small businesses could easily shop for financial services and products among scores of potential providers in an open, transparent marketplace.” Click here to read FDATA’s full submission.

FDATA and Paytechs of Canada Release Landmark Survey on Canadian Consumer and Small Business Attitudes Toward Financial Sector, Fintech and Open Banking. This groundbreaking poll found that more than half of Canadians reported feeling stress when interacting with Canada’s financial services sector and believe they would benefit from increased competition and transparency in the financial services market. The findings are derived from two surveys conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights of 2000 randomly-selected Canadian adults and 600 small business owners. The full report is available here.

Member News & Activity

Basis Theory has rolled out its new privacy tool called sendsecure.ly, which ensures passwords, API credentials, card numbers, etc. don’t exist in perpetuity within friends’, families, and coworkers’ emails, SMS messengers, or chat apps. Instead, the web app allows anyone to share their sensitive data as a single-use undecipherable link that can be privately shared with anyone else. Sendsecure.ly is a Next.js application written using TypeScript and built upon the Basis Theory platform. All interactions with the Basis Theory API are performed using the JavaScript SDK, and executed within the Next.js backend API.

Codat published a blog post explaining in detail how open banking can allow for the integration of banking and accounting data to empower better credit access for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) who may otherwise face difficultly getting loan applications approved. The blog also covers what banking and accounting data have to offer on their own, how they can work together to paint a fuller, more accurate picture of SMB finances, and how the best APIs on the market enable modern lenders to access and analyze both seamlessly.

Envestnet Yodlee put together an on-demand webinar featuring Head of International Markets Jason O’Shaughnessy, exploring how open banking and open finance provide timely, secure, and direct access to banking, investment accounts, and pension data.

Flinks published a blog post clearly laying out the basics of open banking, describing several key reasons it should be adopted, listing dominant use cases, and digging deeper into the current state of open banking in North America.

Fiserv announced a new partnership with Equifax to collaborate on new offerings that deliver a more holistic picture of businesses and their data and enable financial institutions and businesses of all sizes to embrace the power of real-time data insights. “Equifax and Fiserv have a shared vision for how timely, detailed data can transform the financial services ecosystem, helping to better inform decision makers with the right knowledge at the right time,” said Frank Bisignano, Fiserv President and Chief Executive Officer. “Together we will empower financial institutions and businesses to operate in new ways as they benefit from data-enabled insights.”

Interac President and CEO Mark O’Connell delivered a virtual keynote address at the Empire Club entitled “Canada’s Digital Economy: Creating a Shared Vision in a Fragmented Word”, explaining how Canadian businesses and governments can build trust and meet the needs of the digital economy.

Morningstar’s ByAllAccounts was recently featured on the WealthTech Today podcast. Hear from Don McHenry, Senior Product Manager at Morningstar ByAllAccounts, as he covers trends in data aggregation. Topics covered include how data aggregation powers open banking, how data is enriched to support specific client use cases, some tips on selecting a data aggregation vendor, and much more.

MX Interim President and CEO Shane Evans published a blog post sharing why MX sees open finance as the ‘great amplifier’ to achieving its mission. Shane sees a world where we talk about our financial challenges and find solutions to help everyone in society to become financially strong. Be sure to watch the full replay of Shane’s keynote from MX FinTech Festival and watch for other session recaps on the MX blog.

Plaid will be hosting the world’s leading developers, innovators, and business leaders on May 19 for Plaid Forum, an immersive, one-day hybrid experience designed to empower and build the future of digital finance. Featuring keynotes, interactive workshops, and specialized learning tracks, this event will be online and in-person in San Francisco, and free for everyone.

Salt Edge celebrated its 9th birthday on April 19th and was featured in a blog post at Innovate Finance entitled “9 Facts about Salt Edge on its 9th year anniversary.” They also announced a new strategic partnership with FintechOS to offer financial institutions, banks, and electronic money institutions (EMIs) already using FintechOS’ high productivity fintech infrastructure (HPFI) the ability to improve their compliance with PSD2, as well as other global Open Banking standards.

Trustly was awarded the 2022 Banking Fintech of the Year award for Retail Payments by Aite-Novarica. In collaboration with the Merchant Advisory Group, Trustly published new research around how Open Banking Payments can help merchants mitigate their payment challenges deriving from COVID-19. The company also published a blog post about the powerful combination of Open Banking and Online Gaming.

Vopay published a blog post explaining Variable Recurring Payments and how its development will follow once open banking arrives in Canada.

Monthly FDATA Member Spotlight: Xero

FDATA North America member Xero is a cloud-based accounting software platform for small businesses with more than 3 million subscribers globally. This Member Spotlight interview features Faye Pang, Xero’s Country Manager for Canada.

Events and Submission Deadlines

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