FDATA North America March 2023 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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Monthly FDATA Member Spotlight: Envestnet

This month’s member spotlight features Lisa Novier, Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance at Envestnet Data Analytics. Lisa tells us how Envestnet’s role in providing connectivity of consumer-permissioned financial data is critical in realizing the full potential of this data and explains Envestnet’s high level of engagement with policymakers to promote finalization of the Dodd-Frank Section 1033 rulemaking.

FDATA NA News

FDATA North America Releases Data Privacy Principles. FDATA North America and its 30+ member companies recently released a set of principles to govern the usage, disclosures, liability, oversight, and technology involved in open finance ecosystems. Upon release of these new principles, FDATA North America Executive Director Steve Boms said: “As policymakers in both Canada and the United States contemplate open finance and federal data privacy frameworks, FDATA North America’s members are pleased to have collaborated on a set of privacy principles that we hope will inform their work. This release is a detailed and comprehensive set of principles which we intend to serve as critical guideposts for legislators and regulators in the U.S. and Canada as they undertake the important work of creating modernized, customer-centric financial services regulatory environments.” A high-level summary of these principles is available here. The full set of these principles is available here and can be shared with attribution.

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. Space for both events is limited, so be sure reserve your spot via the links above!

Member News & Activity

Basis Theory has been named to Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in Security for 2023, ranking #3 ‘for making it easy to tokenize any data.’

Codat’s Gabby Macsweeney, Head of Communication and Product recently sat down with Caary Capital for a Q&A to discuss what Canada can learn from the UK regarding Open Banking and funding small businesses, particularly on the use of standardized ‘funding passports’ that can improve and shorten the application process for small businesses. While acknowledging that Canada is behind the UK when it comes to formal open banking implementation, Macsweeney did note “that four million Canadians are already accessing budgeting or account aggregation tools via screen scraping in the absence of APIs.”

Flinks’ Meng Guan, Product Marketing Manager, published a new post on the Flinks blog entitled: “Lending in volatile times: harness the power of cash flow analysis” which explains how consumer-permissioned data aggregation allows lenders to obtain cash flow data directly from borrowers’ bank accounts and conduct cash flow analysis to quickly gauge borrowers’ ability to repay. The post also explained how this cash flow analysis can be used to expand access to credit, strengthen fraud prevention, and improve the efficiency of lenders’ processes.

Method Financial’s Co-Founder and COO Mit Shah published a new blog post entitled: Open Finance Takes Center Stage in Washington” which described the importance of the CFPB’s Section 1033 rulemaking to facilitate open banking in the US, and detailed how and why Method is engaging with policymakers on this issue, including an overview of the recent comment letter they submitted in response to the CFPB’s Section 1033 SBREFA Outline.

Morningstar ByAllAccounts Head of Data Aggregation Strategy Brian Costello is featured in a question and answer-styled article titled  “The hopes and limitations of consumer data services in the US” by The Paypers. The article provides valuable insight and details into the latest consumer financial data moves in the US, and the future of data sharing and embedded finance.

MX’s CTO Wes Hummel joined the Fintech Confidential podcast with Tedd Huff to discuss his journey in the fintech industry, the future of open banking, and shared his insights on customer focus, scalability, and security in financial technology. He also talked about the legacy of MX’s late co-founder, Brandon Dewitt, and the opportunities ahead for the company and the broader fintech industry.

Plaid’s Head of Policy John Pitts and Kaitlin Asrow, Executive Deputy Superintendent of Research and Innovation of the New York Department of Financial Services, discussed innovation and regulation at a recent Money 20/20 conference. The discussion was recently released on Money 20/20s “Money Pot” podcast and is available here. The pair discussed ways that regulators can think more in line with innovators, and innovators can better communicate with rulemakers.

Trustly announced a partnership with PointsBet in collaboration with Cross River Bank to leverage Open Banking so PointsBet can offer players instant payouts, giving them real-time access to their winnings. In addition to the announcement, Cross River Bank, Trustly, and PointsBet hosted a webinar: Enhancing the Faster Payments Ecosystem. Trustly also hosted a webinar on Open Banking: The Open Banking Era: How We Got Here & Where We Are Going, and published this blog post which breaks down the concept of Open Finance.

Vaultree published a new blog post entitled: “How encryption can help the finance industry win the battle against cyberattacks” which explains how fully functional data-in-use encryption is becoming the best tool to help financial institutions mitigate the costs of data breaches and ensure customer data privacy.

Vopay published a new blog post entitled: “Hidden Value in Plain Sight: The Potential of Embedded Finance” which details the significant growth and future potential of embedded finance and the ‘API economy’ that goes with it.

Xero produced a new video entitled: “Quality over Quantity: Exploring Data Collection Minimization,” in which Xero’s experts unpack data collection minimization, including the pitfalls of collecting more data than necessary, the benefits of giving customers choice about what data they disclose, and the importance of explaining why personal data is being requested. Kendra Vant, EGM, Data at Xero, moderates this panel discussion featuring Claire Knight Whiting, GM Legal, Global Privacy at Xero, and Xero’s Responsible Data Use Advisory Council members Anna Johnston of Salinger Privacy and Maribel Lopez of Lopez Research.

Events and Submission Deadlines

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