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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Monthly FDATA Member Spotlight: Method Financial
This month’s member spotlight features Mit Shah, COO and Co-Founder of Method Financial, who explains how Method’s technology allows customers to securely permission their financial data to third-party providers of their choosing without having to use traditional credential-based methods:
FDATA NA News
FDATA Welcomes GoCardless and Method Financial as New Members. FDATA is happy to welcome two new member companies this month: GoCardless and Method Financial. GoCardless is a direct bank payment platform that streamlines both one-time and recurring payments, can collect payments from 30+ countries quickly and securely, and easily integrates into over 350 other business systems. Method Financial is an embedded banking service that allows developers to easily retrieve and pay any of their users’ debts through a single API, which provides access to 15,000+ lenders in the US, covering 95% of consumer debt.
FDATA Submits Comment Letter in Response to CFPB Section 1033 SBREFA Outline of Proposals for Consideration. On January 25th, FDATA submitted a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in response to its Outline of Proposals for Consideration for the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. FDATA North America has long advocated for the CFPB to issue a rule implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act using the best information available from the broadest number of market stakeholders possible. We commend the CFPB for outlining a strong series of proposals that, when implemented, will create a more competitive, more accessible, and more inclusive financial services marketplace. Our letter also encouraged the CFPB to broaden the scope of covered accounts and covered recipients under the rule to maximize its impact, among other important improvements we suggest the Bureau to consider. FDATA North America looks forward to continuing our positive engagement with the CFPB as this rulemaking process continues.
Save the Dates: FDATA to Host Two Upcoming Summits in the US and Canada. FDATA North America will be hosting two Open Banking summits in 2023. The first will be held in Washington, DC, on April 20th, and the second in Ottawa, Canada on May 17th. These events will feature influential speakers, unique networking opportunities, and in-depth conversations with policymakers, public officials, and subject-matter experts from FDATA and its member companies. Stay tuned for more details, including registration, sponsorship opportunities, and speakers, in the coming weeks!
Member News & Activity
Codat was recognized in OpenFutureWorld’s annual Open Finance Global Rankings of the organizations, countries, and individuals leading progress in open finance around the world.
Flinks has published an “Open Banking Glossary” of the most frequently used terminologies in North American open banking that will be regularly updated.
MX’s Vice President for Strategic Accounts & New Markets Matt West joined the Fintech Insider podcast to discuss the journey from Open Banking to Open Finance to date, and the challenges and opportunities for developing a truly global system.
Plaid Co-Founder and CEO Zach Perret joined several of his colleagues for an hour-long discussion of their 2023 fintech predictions, including developments in crypto, the FedNow system, and if open finance is going to finally “take off” in the U.S.
Trustly CEO Alex Gonthier was featured in a Leaders in Payments Podcast episode discussing the Trustly origin story, its core mission, and its vision for the future as well as where he sees the industry going in the next two to three years as it relates to real-time payments, crypto, blockchain, and stablecoin. Trustly also released this whitepaper which helps merchants understand the true cost of card acceptance and how to lower processing costs.
Vopay published a new post on its blog entitled “The Need For Speed: How FinTech Is Addressing Lending’s Biggest Pain Points,” which explained the many diverse benefits of faster payment options, including reduction of NSF fees and rapid loan disbursements.
Xero’s Chief Product Officer Anna Curzon spoke with BetaKit to explain the challenges of building what she calls a “purposeful platform” for small businesses, and mentioned how the limited development of open banking in Canada is a persistent barrier to developing new products.
Events and Submission Deadlines
- February 13-16: Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) Mid-Year Conference and Tech Forum
- March 6-7: Future Digital Finance
- March 19-22: Fintech Meetup
- April 16-19: NACHA’s Smarter Faster Payments 2023
- April 20: FDATA North America U.S. Summit
- April 24-26: Transact by ETA
- April 26: Empire Fintech Conference
- May 17: FDATA North America Canada Summit