Leading fintech trade association calls launch “the first waypoint on a long journey”
The Financial Data and Technology Association, the leading advocate of open banking in the UK and around the world, has welcomed the parallel implementation of PSD2 across Europe, and the launch of Open Banking amongst the large banks here in the UK.
FDATA, which is chaired by Gavin Littlejohn, who represents the fintech industry on the Open Banking Implementation Entity Steering Group, was set up by six fintech companies in 2014 at the request of HM Treasury, and has been working directly with government, regulatory authorities and financial industry stakeholders in our mission to open up Britain’s financial sector to the benefits of financial data and technology.
FDATA has members from across the financial sector who provide innovative financial applications and services to empower personal and small business consumers to make better decisions and take fuller control of their financial lives across all their bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments.
PSD2 and Open Banking empower the customer, through his or her explicit consent, to ensure that their chosen third party provider can access their data, make payments and provide them with innovative financial solutions.
Commenting on today’s launch, FDATA Chairman Gavin Littlejohn said:
“This is an important day for consumers and small businesses. From today, PSD2 gives consumers the right to share their payments data with their chosen third party app without any lingering fear that they are breaching the terms of their bank account, and those third party providers are being brought into a regulated environment to further increase consumer protection. And, in the UK, the delivery by the nine largest current account providers of a common Open Banking standard has provided the opportunity to reduce fragmentation, enhance innovation and provide additional security measures for the whole ecosystem.
“The standardisation of Open Banking delivery will see the continued expansion of fintech companies, models and products, and this is an extremely exciting time for the consumer and for UK plc.
“However, Open Banking in the UK is merely the first waypoint on a long journey. The scope of this launch – only current accounts and only from certain banks – is limited, and customers will only experience the full benefits when the scope is expanded.
“FDATA has successfully campaigned to get us this far, and we will now campaign with renewed vigour to bring all financial products, from all over the world, into a standardised open banking system.
“The drive towards open banking has been, and will remain, customer outcome led. The fintech industry exists because customers required better outcomes. Today is the day where consumers of financial technology in the UK can know for sure that they are being listened to.”