North America-Newsletters

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America April Newsletter

FDATA North America Monthly Newsletter for April 2024

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. Know someone who’d like to receive these monthly updates? Send them here to sign up.

FDATA North America News

FDATA NA Sends Letter to Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and Wyoming Legislators Urging Revision of Open Banking Legislation. On March 15, 2024, the Financial Data and Technology Association of North America (FDATA) sent a letter to Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and legislators, including Representatives Cyrus Western, Daniel Singh, Mike Yin, and Senators Alfie Ellis, Tara Nethercott, Chris Rothfuss. The letter, motivated by the recent enactment of HB 145, raised concerns over its alignment with the essential tenets of open banking, particularly the principle that allows consumers and small businesses complete control over the sharing of their financial data. As a globally recognized advocate for consumer-permissioned, third-party access to financial data, FDATA underscored the importance of revising Wyoming’s open banking legislation to reflect global best practices. With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on the verge of implementing a federal open banking framework, FDATA offered to provide input and collaborate with Governor Gordon and the state’s legislators to explore solutions that could establish Wyoming’s open banking regulations as a model for consumer empowerment and market competitiveness. FDATA released a statement on its submission of the letter, which can be found here.

Member News & Activity

API Metrics published a blog highlighting the importance of interoperability in the digital transformation of financial services. Through their advanced solutions and involvement in standards bodies like FDX and the OpenID Foundation, APIContext is leading the way in fostering financial inclusivity and innovation by ensuring APIs are built with open standards, focusing on reliability, security, and meeting the challenges of Open Banking standards.

Basis Theory published a blog emphasizing their commitment to security, especially in protecting Personal Health Information and other sensitive data, highlighting recent achievements of SOC2 Type1+HIPAA and ISO 27001 certifications. These certifications demonstrate their adherence to stringent security standards and regulations, ensuring the protection and compliance of user data through technical and organizational safeguards.

Codat posted a blog underscoring the potential of banking data as a key asset in the lending industry for making informed decisions on creditworthiness. The blog emphasized the need for lenders to automate the processing and categorization of banking data to unlock actionable insights and improve underwriting efficiency, highlighting Codat’s role in simplifying this process through its technology that connects open banking and accounting data for enhanced decision-making.

Envestnet Yodlee posted a blog discussing the burgeoning interest in open banking within South Africa as part of a global trend toward increased data-sharing and financial innovation. The blog highlighted South Africa’s potential to lead in open banking, given its Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s interest in an Open Finance regime, the proactive stance of major banks, and the opportunity to enhance financial inclusion for the unbanked or underbanked, promising a series of deeper explorations into the benefits and regulations of open banking in the region.

Flinks published a blog detailing the growing momentum of Open Banking in Canada, driven by consumer and business demand for personalized financial services and the Canadian government’s commitment to establishing a consumer-driven banking framework. Highlighting Flinks’ role in facilitating this transition, the blog showcased their partnerships and contributions to developing Open Banking capabilities, positioning them as a key player in enhancing financial innovation, competition, and consumer choice in Canada’s financial ecosystem.

GoCardless published a press release announcing its approval as a supplier on the Crown Commercial Service’s Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System framework, enabling it to bid for account information and payment initiation services tenders from UK public sector bodies. This inclusion marks a significant step for GoCardless, allowing it to expand its strategic opportunities within government sectors and strengthen its presence in the charity sector.

MX published a blog addressing the struggle of many financial providers to fully utilize consumer financial data for enhancing customer and business outcomes. Highlighting findings from a Forrester Consulting study, the blog underscored the critical need for financial institutions to embrace data intelligence, invest in breaking down data silos, and leverage technology and partnerships to unlock the transformative potential of this data for improved personalization and decision-making.

Plaid published a blog detailing how integrating with Plaid’s Payment Initiation services helped Paysend, a global payment platform, to overcome challenges in customer bank account top-ups, resulting in a 125% increase in transaction volume within a year. The partnership enabled Paysend to offer instant bank transfers, significantly improving customer satisfaction and expanding their service with successful launches in the UK and plans for further expansion across the European Union.

Trustly posted a blog highlighting the advantages of ACH autopay for billers, emphasizing its potential to significantly reduce processing fees compared to card payments, thereby maximizing revenue and safeguarding cash flow. The blog also discussed how leveraging Open Banking can address the inefficiencies of traditional ACH setups by providing a streamlined user experience, reducing manual input, and enhancing security, ultimately increasing ACH autopay adoption among customers.

VoPay was featured in a PYMNTS article announcing its partnership with Cross River Bank to expand its embedded payments technology into the U.S. market, providing VoPay with access to major payment rails and networks along with Cross River’s regulatory expertise. This collaboration aligns with VoPay’s goal of delivering innovative financial solutions and will enable the company to offer a wider range of payment services including ACH, Same-Day ACH, RTP, FedNow® Service, and Pull-from-Card, enhancing its North American service offerings.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America March Newsletter

FDATA North America Monthly Newsletter for March 2024

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. Know someone who’d like to receive these monthly updates? Send them here to sign up.

FDATA North America News

FDATA NA Submits Comments to Canada’s Pre-Budget Consultations 2024. On February 9, 2024, FDATA NA submitted comments to Canada’s Department of Finance as part of its pre-budget consultations for Budget 2024. The submission advocated for Canada to enhance the inclusion of consumer-driven banking (CDB) outlined in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, aiming for a comprehensive Canadian open finance framework. Our comments also called on the Canadian government to legislate a CDB Framework in Budget 2024, establish a robust governance entity to oversee this framework, and outline a vision for open finance, signifying the next advancement in financial services. The submission noted that the proposed governance entity should be neutral, transparent, capable of making quick, binding decisions, and accountable, ensuring the framework’s success and sustainability while promoting market innovation and competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and SMEs. FDATA released a statement on its submission of the comment letter, which can be found here.

FDATA NA Submits Comments to Canada’s Consultation on Strengthening Competition in the Financial Sector. On February 28, 2024, FDATA NA submitted comments to Canada’s Department of Finance regarding the consultation on strengthening competition in the financial sector. Our comments outlined four initiatives crucial for creating a more inclusive, innovative, and competitive financial ecosystem: 1) advancing Consumer-Driven Finance (CDF) and adopting an open banking regime to empower consumers and SMEs with control over their financial data; 2) accelerating the deployment of the Real-Time Rail (RTR) to modernize payment infrastructure, enabling instant payment processing; 3) implementing the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) regulations for payment service providers (PSPs) within a robust regulatory framework to enhance payment system security and efficiency; and 4) amending the Canadian Payments Act (CP Act) to allow non-bank payment providers direct access to payment rails. FDATA released a statement on its submission of the comment letter, which can be found here.

Member News & Activity

API Metrics published a blog post announcing the formation of APIContext Inc., a merger between APImetrics Inc and Contxt Ltd, to offer comprehensive solutions for API oversight and integrity. The newly formed company aims to address the challenges of creating reliable, productized APIs by providing end-to-end visibility, proactive risk measures, and comprehensive monitoring capabilities to empower businesses.

Basis Theory posted a blog explaining the intricacies of global payment processing, highlighting its necessity for e-commerce businesses to reach an international customer base and the variety of services offered by global payment processors to facilitate cross-border transactions efficiently. The blog emphasized the importance of selecting the right global payment processor, considering factors such as supported currencies, fees, security, and integration capabilities, to enable businesses to cater to global markets effectively.

Betterment’s VP of Legal, Joshua Rubin, discussed on the #inSecuritiespod how the company navigates the complex regulatory landscape, including its approach to the fiduciary rule, by addressing overlapping regulations and explaining why their stance sometimes diverges from the broader financial services industry’s perspective on rulemaking proposals.

EQ Bank was mentioned in a Business Wire article for partnering with Trulioo, an industry-leading identity verification platform, to streamline its digital banking onboarding process. This partnership enables EQ Bank to provide a frictionless customer experience with enhanced security and compliance, utilizing Trulioo’s advanced document verification, AI checks, and customizable workflow solutions.

Flinks posted a blog highlighting the growing importance of Account-to-Account (A2A) payments, describing them as a significant evolution in the financial transaction landscape. A2A payments, which enable direct fund transfers between accounts and bypass traditional intermediaries, are gaining traction due to their speed, cost efficiency, and enhanced security, supported by financial institutions, fintech companies, and payment processors.

GoCardless published a blog post announcing the extension of its partnership with Dyce Energy, a UK-based energy provider, for an additional three years, for easy bill collection through Direct Debit payments.

Inverite was mentioned in a BNN article for its advancements in the fintech and alternative lending sectors through its Open Banking Platform. The article noted that Inverite is revolutionizing consumer directed banking, providing innovative solutions for data enrichment, identity verification, risk management, and compliance, thereby transforming the alternative credit economy.

Morningstar Wealth published a blog highlighting the significance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the U.S. financial data-sharing ecosystem, particularly focusing on the evolving open banking system. Brian Costello, Head of Data Aggregation Strategy and Governance at ByAllAccounts, emphasized the importance of empowering consumers with greater control over their financial data to support innovation in financial services, advocating for a holistic approach that promotes DEI in financial product design and implementation to ensure the financial well-being of all.

MX published a blog summarizing the ten key themes of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rulemaking on personal financial data rights, including concerns about the scope of data covered, restrictions on secondary use cases, ambiguity in liability definitions, the potential for charging fees, the need for technical and interface standards, transitioning from screen scraping, consent and authentication protocols, tokenized account numbers, overlaps with existing regulations like Fair Credit Reporting Act and Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, and concerns about the proposed compliance timeline.

Trustly’s Matt Janiga, Legal Counsel and Director of Regulatory and Public Affairs, published a blog applauding the CFPB’s efforts in advancing Open Banking through Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, while offering suggestions to improve the proposal for a more inclusive Open Banking ecosystem. Janiga emphasized the need for adjustments in areas such as data-sharing duration to align with consumer expectations, the practicality and security concerns around Tokenized Account Numbers (TANs), the importance of allowing safe, pro-consumer secondary data usage, and enhancing consumer experiences through better API standards and fallback options.

Ozone API was mentioned in The Paypers article for partnering with CLOWD9 to enhance their services to clients, combining Ozone API’s expertise in facilitating Open Banking innovations with CLOWD9’s payments processing platform. The article noted that the collaboration aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem to support banks and financial institutions in adapting to the evolving landscape of Open Finance, promising to foster growth and innovation within the industry.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America February Newsletter

FDATA North America Monthly Newsletter for February 2024

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. Know someone who’d like to receive these monthly updates? Send them here to sign up.

Member News & Activity

API Metrics published a blog post sharing the top three API trends for 2024, focus on API Discovery, API Validation, and API Conformance. These trends emphasize the importance of discovering and monitoring all APIs for security and efficiency, ensuring APIs meet specific requirements and performance standards, and verifying that APIs conform to their intended use and governance rules.

Basis Theory published a blog post discussing chargebacks, explaining them as bank-initiated reversals of charges in response to consumer complaints, such as fraud or disputes over refunds. The post emphasizes the importance of clear communication, effective customer service, and robust fraud protection measures in payment systems to minimize chargebacks.

Betterment posted a press release announcing the launch of “Betterment at Work,” allowing small business employers to match their employees’ student loan payments with 401(k) contributions. This industry-first solution, aligned with the Secure Act 2.0 legislation, aims to aid workers burdened by student debt in enhancing their retirement readiness by enabling them to save for retirement while paying off their loans.

Codat posted a blog detailing its Bank Feeds API, which now supports platforms like NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, and FreeAgent, simplifying the integration process for corporate card and cross-border payment providers.

Envestnet Yodlee’s Head of Governance, Risk & Compliance Lisa Novier, remarked on the remarkable acceleration of open banking at the Money2020 conference, highlighting an increase of over 140% in their open banking volume from 2022 to 2023. During the event, she also delved into their strategy for educating data providers and discussed the advantages of expanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ruling for both financial institutions and consumers.

EQ Bank published a press release highlighting its “Second Chance” campaign, which challenges Canadians to expect more from their checking accounts, particularly in light of a new survey revealing low awareness about interest earnings and dissatisfaction with financial incentives from banks.

Experian posted a press release announcing its new integration with Dark Matter Technologies, enabling the majority of U.S. mortgage lenders to instantly access verified income and employment information through Experian Verify, integrated with Dark Matter’s Empower loan origination system and Exchange service network.

Financsystech was mentioned in an article on Prensa, discussing the trends of 2022 in Open Finance and Open Insurance, where CEO and Co-founder Danillo Branco, a pioneer in building an Open Source Open Finance as a Service Platform, contributed to the debate on digital transformation and service provision in these sectors.

Flinks published a blog exploring the benefits of Open Banking for commercial banking, highlighting how this innovation is transforming the Canadian financial landscape by offering more efficient, secure, and accessible services to businesses and reshaping operations in an increasingly digital world.

GoCardless was mentioned in “The State of Open Banking: Six Years After PSD2” article in the Fintech Times, where Tom Burton, the Director of External Affairs and Public Policy, discussed the evolution and challenges of open banking payments technology. He emphasized that for open banking to become a primary alternative to card payments, it needs to achieve ubiquity through comprehensive bank coverage, excellent user experience, and integration into digital wallets.

MX published a blog proclaiming 2024 as the year of financial data intelligence, predicting significant growth and success for financial institutions and fintechs that effectively harness and leverage vast amounts of transaction and customer data.

Portabl published a blog titled “Portabl x Mastercard: Start Path Open Banking 2024,” announcing their participation in the Mastercard Start Path Open Banking Program as the first reusable identity platform. This collaboration aims to leverage Portabl’s reusable KYC and verifiable credentials to enhance financial access and consumer choice, by integrating identity with payments within Mastercard’s global network.

Trustly held a webinar titled “Embedded Finance vs Open Banking: What’s the better build for your customers?”, where they explored the significant market potentials of open banking and embedded finance, projected to reach $164.8 billion and $6.5 trillion respectively in the coming years.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America January Newsletter

FDATA North America Monthly Newsletter for January 2024

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. Know someone who’d like to receive these monthly updates? Send them here to sign up.

FDATA North America News

FDATA NA Comment Letter Submitted on CFPB’s Section 1033 NPRM. On December 27, 2023, FDATA NA filed a comment letter in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on personal financial data rights, which will implement Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. FDATA views this rulemaking as a crucial step forward for U.S. competitiveness in a global economy in which many other countries have already developed and implemented open finance regimes. In its comment letter, FDATA underscored areas for potential improvements in the final rule that will more effectively align the rule with the vision the CFPB presented when announcing its pursuit of this rulemaking. FDATA released a statement on its submission of the comment letter, which can be found here.

Member News & Activity

API Metrics published a blog post providing comments to the CFPB’s Personal Financial Data Rights rulemaking, emphasizing the need for real-time compliance monitoring, scalability testing, standardization and compliance verification, and improved performance and uptime metrics in open banking. They stated that these measures are crucial for enhancing the security, efficiency, and consumer experience in the financial data services ecosystem.

Basis Theory published a blog post discussing the concept and importance of frictionless payments in both physical and digital retail environments. It highlighted the benefits and challenges of implementing such systems, emphasizing their growing relevance in the evolving e-commerce landscape and the increasing use of mobile technologies.

Envestnet Yodlee hosted a webinar entitled “The Opportunities and Challenges of Open Banking in Wealth Management.” During the webinar, they provided insights into how firms can leverage the right infrastructure to gain a competitive edge through enhanced data utilization, improved customer experiences, and increased loyalty, while also addressing U.S. open banking regulations and exploring innovative use cases.

Experian issued a press release announcing they integrated NeuroID’s behavioral analytics into its fraud prevention solutions, including CrossCore® and Precise ID®, to enhance protection against fraud rings and AI-enabled bots.

Fiserv published a press release discussing the rise of embedded finance and its integration into various business sectors, emphasizing how it enhances customer experiences and financial services.

Flinks posted a blog highlighting the transformative impact of transactional data on lending operations, detailing how it enhances understanding of borrowing behaviors and informs credit decision-making.

GoCardless was featured in an Open Banking Expo Unplugged podcast to discuss the key themes and trends set to define Open Banking payments in 2024. During the podcast, Siamac Rezaiezadeh, Vice President of product marketing and insights at GoCardless, took stock of the progress made in 2023, as Open Banking payments took off.

Intuit published a press release announcing their global QuickBooks brand campaign, “Business Differently,” which highlighted the innovative ways small businesses and solopreneurs work towards success.

Morningstar announced it unveiled Direct Web Services, a suite of APIs designed to enhance digital platforms with sophisticated investment data, research, and calculations.

Ozone API published a blog entitled “5 Observations from Supporting the Major Global Open Banking Standards,” which explored the fragmented yet interoperable landscape of global open banking standards and highlighted their mission to assist banks and financial institutions in leveraging these standards for regulatory compliance and revenue generation.

Plaid was featured in a PR Newswire article announcing a significant data-access agreement between it and TD Bank Group, facilitating secure and convenient financial data sharing for TD customers across North America.

Questrade was featured in a Yahoo Finance article announcing that it has been ranked #1 for providing the best mobile experience among Canadian self-directed online brokerages, as per Surviscor’s 2023 Mobile Brokerage Experience Review.

Trustly published a press release highlighting the transformative impact of Open Banking APIs in improving business processes for financial institutions. The release emphasized how these APIs facilitate secure and automated data exchange, driving efficiency, and innovation in the banking sector, and details Trustly’s role in enhancing customer experiences and operational capabilities.

Xero announced it partnered with Flinks to connect more Canadian and U.S. small businesses to their banking data, offering secure access to over 20 direct bank connections and enhancing the accuracy of banking transactions for Xero’s customers.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America December Newsletter

FDATA North America Newsletter December 2023

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. Know someone who’d like to receive these monthly updates? Send them here to sign up.

FDATA North America News

FDATA NA Statement On Canada’s FES Implementing Consumer-Driven Finance. On November 21, 2023, the Canadian Government released its 2023 Fall Economic Statement, which included a comprehensive framework for consumer-driven finance and open finance directives. The Canadian Government’s implementation plan includes a data portability right for financial institutions and fintechs, a third-party accreditation regime with audits and a public registry, an overseeing government-led entity, a single technical standard deemed fit for purpose, and a liability framework for consumer harm in cases of data misuse or fraudulent account access. FDATA released a statement on the inclusion of consumer-driven finance in the FES, which can be found here.

Member News & Activity

API Metrics announced it launched a free service level agreement (“SLA”) monitoring feature for popular API suppliers like Amazon Web Services, Azure, and Google Cloud, aimed at helping application owners track API performance and automatically request service credits for issues. This new capability allows easy integration and monitoring without coding, providing insights into API quality for both technical and business users.

Basis Theory published a blog post emphasizing the importance of continuously enhancing payment performance for businesses, highlighting strategies such as diversifying Payment Service Providers, employing tokenization for data management, and optimizing transactions through automated processing and specific payment method routing.

Envestnet Yodlee published a blog post detailing the expansion of Australia’s Consumer Data Right (“CDR”) into open finance, emphasizing the inclusion of non-bank lending in the statutory data sharing regime from November 2024. This development highlights significant steps for non-bank lenders to become compliant data holders under new CDR rules.

Experian announced it expanded its digital verification service, Work Report™, by partnering with Datagraphic, enabling employees using Epay to consent to digital payroll information sharing for identity verification. This integration now covers 82% of UK employees, significantly streamlining financial processes like mortgage and car finance applications.

Fiserv published its consumer survey, “Expectations & Experiences: AI and Payments Innovation,” highlighting the increasing role of conversational and generative AI in personal finance management, with consumers using these technologies for various financial insights. The survey revealed the growing opportunities and challenges for AI in banking, emphasizing the need for financial service providers to adapt to evolving consumer preferences.

Flinks announced that the Large Credit Union Coalition (“LCUC”) in Canada has chosen Caspian One as their preferred partner to create a customized Open Banking platform, tailored to the Canadian credit union system.

Intuit announced new e-commerce innovations for QuickBooks Online, designed to aid small businesses in managing their inventory across multiple sales channels from a single platform.

Method posted a blog on how their partnership with Budge enabled the launch of a financial management solution for millennials struggling with personal debt and savings. Budge’s platform, supported by Method’s technology, offers tailored financial advice and seamless integration of users’ debt accounts.

MX was featured in a B FinTec Buzz article announcing their new open finance product innovations, including advanced data-driven insights, budgeting tools, and a mobile banking SDK to enhance financial health and enable customized mobile banking app development.

Plaid was featured in a Alkami Technology press release announcing their partnership to provide financial institutions direct API access to Plaid via the Financial Data Exchange Aligned (“FDX”) API Core Exchange.

Questrade published a press release welcoming the Canadian Government’s Fall Economic Statement, which outlines steps towards establishing Canada’s open finance framework in Budget 2024.

Trustly published a blog outlining five key use cases of Open Banking for merchants. These use cases include providing instant payouts for quick consumer refunds, verifying account information efficiently, enhancing “Know Your Customer” (“KYC”) processes through bank-grade data, preventing payment fraud with secure ACH transactions, and modernizing subscription payments with stable bank account alternatives.

Xero was featured in a Open Banking Expo article for unveiling two new payment features aimed at aiding UK small businesses with cash flow management. These features, including a bill payments tool powered by Open Banking, enable businesses to efficiently handle bills directly within Xero, marking Xero as the first major small business cloud accounting software in the UK to offer such Open Banking-enabled functionalities.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America November Newsletter

FDATA North America Newsletter November 2023

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. Know someone who’d like to receive these monthly updates? Send them here to sign up.

FDATA North America News

FDATA NA Statement On The CFPB Proposed Rule Implementing Section 1033. On October 19, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) released its long-awaited proposed rule implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. As anticipated, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) calls for a legal right for consumers to access and share to their data, requires that data providers build dedicated “developer portals” to make data available to consumer-permissioned third parties, promotes competition and innovation, and includes data privacy and security requirements for third parties. FDATA released a statement on the NPRM, which can be found here.

Submission by FDATA NA To the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (INDU) Regarding the Study of Bill C-27. On October 31, 2023 – FDATA NA submitted a written brief to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology ahead of testifying before the panel, advocating for consumer-permissioned access to financial data in Canada. FDATA NA noted it supports the implementation of an open finance regime in Canada, emphasizing the right of consumers and SMEs to securely share their financial data across providers. FDATA NA praised recent U.S. advancements in open finance regulation and urged Canada to follow suit, highlighting the importance of Bill C-27 for data portability and privacy. Click here to read the brief and click here to watch the hearing.

Member News & Activity

API Metrics released a blog post entitled “Navigating The CFPB’s Latest Rulemaking On Personal Financial Data Rights: Lessons From Open Banking And Beyond,” focusing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new draft rules on Personal Financial Data Rights.

Basis Theory published a blog post highlighting its pivotal role in empowering businesses across various industries to offer branded debit and credit cards to their customers. The blog noted that the platform does more than just issue cards; it assumes responsibility for numerous security elements, including KYC, and extends additional services like funding, transaction monitoring, and reporting.

Envestnet Yodlee introduced Credit Accelerator, a new technology solution that uses alternative data to enhance credit access, particularly for those with limited or no traditional credit history. The press release noted that this innovation aligns with the CFPB’s proposed open banking rule, enabling more inclusive credit decisions.

Experian announced a partnership with what3words, integrating their unique location system into Experian’s address validation solution. This enhancement allows businesses to provide more accurate delivery locations, particularly beneficial in hard-to-find areas.

Fiserv announced that it enhanced its financial technology offerings by streamlining access to its core banking APIs, enabling immediate, self-service access for developers. This development, part of the Banking Hub within Fiserv’s Developer Studio, aims to accelerate innovation in the financial industry.

Intuit announced that it expanded its financial offerings with QuickBooks Bill Pay, designed to enhance bill payment and accounts payable automation for businesses. This new feature within QuickBooks streamlines bill management, offering automated bill creation from vendor invoices, digital record-keeping, and various payment options.

Method published a blog announcing its strategic partnership with Plannery, focusing on alleviating the financial burdens of healthcare professionals. This collaboration introduces a bespoke financial wellness platform, specifically designed to address the unique debt challenges faced by healthcare workers.

MX announced that the Financial Technology Report named MX as one of The Top 100 Financial Technology Companies of 2023.

Plaid was featured in a PYMNTS article highlighting “consumer-centric” innovation in empowering money movement.

Questrade announced that MoneySense recognized Questrade as the Best Low-Fee Robo Advisor is Canada. Robo-advisors, like Questrade’s Questwealth Portfolios, use financial technology to make investment management more affordable and accessible.

Trustly published a blog summarizing how open banking transforms the consumer onboarding process by simplifying account verification. Trustly’s solution, Trustly Connect, leverages this technology to offer real-time, secure account information retrieval, streamlining the onboarding process, reducing fraud, and enhancing customer experience.

Xero announced its newest artificial intelligence (AI) feature that it said would enhance user experience by providing quick and efficient responses to queries asked in Xero Central. In addition to direct answers, the AI also supplies a list of other relevant content, significantly speeding up the process of accessing needed information.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America October Newsletter

FDATA North America Monthly Newsletter for October 2023

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. Know someone who’d like to receive these monthly updates? Send them here to sign up.

Member News & Activity

API Metrics released a blog post last week entitled “Unlocking The Unmet Potential Of Open Banking” where they discussed the ways in which open banking has yet to meet its capabilities in multiple markets and outlined recent statistics in the UK compared to geographical variations in open banking. The blog advocates for the market’s need to ensure customer trust and reliability in building an open banking infrastructure and how API Metrics continues to do so for their customers.

Basis Theory published a blog post regarding their partnership with Method Financial. In this customer story, they highlight Method’s mission to assist fintech developers integrate key functionalities like real-time financial data, repayment, balance transfers, and bill pay automation into their apps. In Basis theory, Method found a partner that could move as quickly as they moved, and ever since they have been satisfied with the ease of integration and the level of support from Basis Theory.

Codat released a study, discussed in detail in a piece in The Fintech Times, of 115 business lenders in the US and UK found that digital lenders are also seeing a rise in default rates (41 per cent), and, as a result, are tightening lending standards to manage risk. Despite economic difficulties, Codat also reveals that, “business lenders continue to innovate and evolve their offerings. Providers are adapting their strategies and priorities to narrow in focus on operational efficiency, retaining current customers and launching new lending products.”

Experian was named a market leader in fraud prevention by Liminal’s Link Index Report for Account Opening in Financial Services. The report recognizes Experian for leadership in compliance and fraud prevention capabilities. Experian’s identity verification and fraud prevention solutions received the highest Link Score out of the 32 companies highlighted in the report. It found that Experian was recognized by 94% of buyers and 89% identified Experian as a market leader.

Fiserv was named to TIME World’s Best Companies 2023 for leading global providers of payments and financial technology solutions. Fiserv was awarded this honor based on three primary dimensions: employee satisfaction, revenue growth, and sustainability.

Flinks published a article last month entitled, “Open Banking in Action – A Look at Use Cases,” where they discuss data-in use cases and data-out use cases and how how these two different types of open banking options can be put to work right away. Flinks dives into the most relevant open banking use cases for financial institutions and how FIs can upgrade their digital experiences to maximize conversions and gain a competitive advantage.

Intuit was ranked by Fortune Magazine as #5 on their 2023 Best Workplaces in Technology list. This award follows their recent launch of Intuit Assist, which reinforces their goal to cultivate a strong culture of tech innovation to solve their customers’ most important problems.

Method posted a recent blog post highlighting how the Peach app, powered by Method’s Liability APIs, delivers clear insights into debts and devises personalized repayment strategies for a debt-free future. By partnering with Method, Peach has connected more than 55k accounts, delivering a transparent view into debt management and providing step-by-step repayment strategies to help users become debt-free.

MX held their Money Experience Summit from September 19-21, which is the premier gathering of finance and fintech leaders, influencers, builders, and connectors. Stay in the loop for insightful discussions, unique networking opportunities, and one-of-a-kind experiences.

Plaid announced last month that it will be participating in FinRegLab and the Department of Commerce’s new pilot program through the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), which studies how cash flow data can improve credit access for minority-owned companies and underserved small businesses. Plaid will provide free account connectivity services to participating mission-based lenders to allow loan applicants to authorize their account data to be accessed for underwriting.

Portabl published a recent blog entitled, “What is consumer-permissioned data & how does it work?” The blog outlines that while banks and aggregators have done an impressive job shaping conventions and standards around consumer-permissioned data, Portabl offers the market the ability to bridge the gap between simpler account access and secure data sharing.

TransUnion published a recent blog titled, “Point-of-Sale Installment Loans and Your Credit,” where they show BNPL and POS installment loans can be appealing because a large purchase doesn’t have to be paid in full upfront. POS loas have been used by as many as 100 million Americans at least once in the past year, according to 2022 TransUnion Consumer Pulse research.

Trustly penned a new post for their blog entitled: “Maximizing Value Through Grocery Payments: How Open Banking Can Help,” which outlines the ways in which open banking can help grocery store merchants improve shopper experience, lower payment acceptance costs, and maximize value through payments during these more challenging economic times.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America September Newsletter

FDATA News

FDATA North America Submits Comments to Canada’s Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) Pre-2024 Budget Consultations. Our submission stressed that Canada needs to remain diligent in its pursuit of an open banking framework, that is must recognize that other countries are rapidly implementing their own open banking regimes, and remain keenly aware that every day that passes without open banking development risks leaving Canadians further behind their international counterparts and competitors. Our letter also expressed disappointment with the lack of progress on the open banking file, and called on the government to include language in Budget 2024 to rapidly implement the recommendations that Open Banking Lead Abraham Tachjian will provide in his forthcoming final report. Our submission also called for the government to outline its approach to open finance, the next logical step after open banking, and amend the Canadian Payments Act to enable Payments Canada to expand its membership to include federally regulated payment service providers, providing access to its forthcoming real-time payment system.

Member News & Activity

APImetrics published a new blog post entitled: “Why You Need to Think of APIs as Products” which demonstrates how a product-centric approach to API development means implementing security and privacy aspects right from the design phase through well after deployment.

Codat published a new blog post entitled: “Why big banks are finally making moves in business banking” which explained how small business borrowers can increase their access to credit by connecting and permissioning their deposit account data to SMB lenders.

Envestnet Data and Analytics hosted a webinar entitled” Open Banking Around the World” which outlined the evolution of open banking and open finance in several countries across the globe. It also featured discussion of the different paths countries have taken toward open banking accreditation, and described the use cases – like lending, payment initiation, personal finance, and more – that have been successful in each region.

Fiserv was recently recognized by CNBC in the Digital Payments Category of its “World Top Fintech Companies” list for the depth and breadth of capabilities it provides merchants and financial institutions, including solutions that enable digital commerce, digital money transfers, and mobile payments.

GoCardless has announced it is renewing its strategic partnership with fellow FDATA North America member Xero, the global small business platform, for another five years. The agreement builds on a long-term relationship which started in 2016, focused on helping small businesses get paid faster. For GoCardless this also represents a doubling down in the accountancy space, a key sector for the fintech as it executes on its ambitious growth plans.

Method was named a finalist in the PayTech Start-up of the Year category at the PayTech Awards USA 2023. Additionally, their founding software engineer Mustafa Ali spoke at Fintech Devcon on the importance of idempotency in building resilient, dependable APIs, and why adopting an idempotent-first mindset is vital for API-first companies.

MX published a new blog post and whitepaper entitled: “How Open Finance Improves Security,” which explain how consumer-permissioned data access leads to more consumer control and awareness of their financial data, as well as allowing for modern data security methods, particularly account access without the use of usernames and passwords.

Plaid’s Global Head of Policy John Pitts joined the “Breaking Banks” show along with Jonah Crane, partner at Klaros Group, and Dara Tarkowsi, partner at Actuate Law, to discuss open finance, the recent Interagency Guidance on Third Party Due Diligence from U.S. regulators, and how fintechs that are third-party bank partners must understand the importance of this guidance and prepare themselves for more interaction with regulators in the future.

Trustly’s Director of Regulatory and Public Affairs, Matt Janiga, joined Harold Levey at Pymnts to discuss the CFPB ‘s proposed rules and standards coming in October and the landscape of Open Banking regulation in the US. Matt put this latest regulatory work in context by explaining how laws designed to protect consumer information have been on the books for decades, and how the spirit of those laws is tied to a basic principle: If companies are sharing your data — whether it’s with another company or even the government — you should have some right to know about it and also to know what information the company has about you.

Vaultree’s CEO and founder Hamed Arbabi penned an article for the Forbes Technology Council entitled: “How To Better Support Gig Workers Through Payment Modernization,” which how payment modernization, particularly on payroll systems, is critical for providing gig workers the financial services needed to meet their work circumstances.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America August Newsletter

Member News & Activity

Basis Theory CEO and Co-Founder Colin Luce, wrote a guest post for Forbes outlining the four most important steps that fintech startups should be taking to secure their payment systems and unlock the value of their data. Basis Theory has also launched an Artificial Intelligence powered “Compliance Genie” in partnership with kapa.ai which can provide instant access to payments expertise and quickly sift through card network rules and get instant answers to regulatory questions.

Codat published a new blog post entitled “Can you really trust your customers’ accounting data?” which detailed how accounting data is more reliable than filed accounts and tax returns when it comes to evaluating a business’s creditworthiness. The post explains that many businesses update their accounting records much more regularly than their tax information, which can give a more accurate and up-to-date picture of a borrower’s creditworthiness at the time of application.

Envestnet Data and Analytics President Farouk Ferchichi penned an article in Finextra entitled:” Embracing Open Banking for Small Banks” which provided an overview of open banking, the importance open banking for smaller banks, and the upcoming Section 1033 rulemaking from the CFPB.

Fiserv’s Director of Communications Chase Wallace penned an article for their website entitled: “Accelerating the Pace of Innovation” which explained how the company sees the increasing use of AI and data affecting the financial services marketplace, and how Fiserv will be part of this transformation, particularly via deployment of its “easy-to-use APIs” which can “give credit unions and community banks a competitive edge.”

Inverite published a new post on their website entitled: “What is Data Aggregation” which explained data aggregation and aggregators, how it works, and how it can benefit businesses.

Method Co-Founder and COO Mit Shah penned a guest post in Fintech Nexus entitled: “It’s a rate-shopping environment: Do you have the data to compete?” which explored how open banking data and the upcoming Section 1033 rule from the CFPB will pose new challenges and opportunities in today’s rate-shopping environment, particularly in promoting a more competitive marketplace and empowering financial institutions to offer hyper-personalized products and services. He also shared data from a recent Financial Health Network study which showed that customers are three times more likely to be satisfied with their primary financial institution if they feel their institution truly cares about their financial wellness, and five times more likely to purchase additional products from their financial institution in the future.

MX has partnered with Finastra, a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces to provide more seamless, personalized money experiences by integrating MX’s Personal Financial Management (PFM), Insights, and Account Aggregation solutions with Finastra’s Fusion Digital Banking solution. This partnership will enable more than 150 financial institutions using the Fusion Digital Banking solution to provide consumers with a robust set of PFM and financial wellness tools, including budgeting and debt management, personalized, proactive insights based on their spending and saving behaviors, and the ability to create a consolidated view of their finances by connecting all of their financial accounts.

Plaid’s Head of Public Policy John Pitts joined the Open Views podcast to discuss the story of open finance, highlighting how it has been driven by consumer demand rather than regulatory intervention. He also covers how, over time, banks have formed deep partnerships with open finance companies such as Plaid, signaling their willingness to adapt and meet consumer demands. John also discussed how regulators are crucial in shaping open finance regulations to protect consumers and foster innovation, the importance of trust and regulation in the financial services industry, and how open finance is seen as a solution to expand access to credit, particularly for credit-invisible individuals.

Trustly’s Matt Janiga, Legal Counsel, Director of Regulatory and Public Affairs, penned a new post for their blog entitled: “Open Banking Update: CFPB Regulation” which gives an overview of what open banking is, recent interest from members of Congress, and how the CFPB’s Section 1033 rule will implement it. Trustly CEO Alex Gonthier also joined PYMTS CEO Karen Webster to discuss the state, and future potential of real-time payments driven by open banking.

Vaultree Co-Founder and CEO Ryan Lasmaili joined the Bospar PR show Politely Pushy with Eric Chemi for a conversation on data privacy, cybersecurity challenges and his personal journey: from financial mathematics, to personally being a victim of data hacking, and leading the company that has pioneered the world’s first Fully Functional Data-In-Use Encryption (FFDUE).

Xero’s  Head of Government Experience Mike Cascone penned an article for Canadian SME entitled: “Open Banking and how Canada stands to benefit from it” which gave a strong overview of what open banking is and particularly how small and medium sized businesses can benefit from it.

Events and Submission Deadlines

by rebecca rebecca No Comments

FDATA North America July Newsletter

FDATA NA News

FDATA North America Responds to CFPB Data Broker RFI. In response to the CFPB’s Request for Information (RFI) Regarding Data Brokers, we submitted a comment letter stressing in the strongest possible terms, that third-party providers of financial services that rely on consumer-permissioned data are not data brokers, and therefore should be exempt from any Bureau rulemakings, guidance, or other actions it may consider in the data brokerage space. We also used this opportunity to further deploy our FDATA Privacy Principles which define customer-directed data as financial data that is collected or shared in accordance with a clear affirmative action by or request from an end user or their authorized agent, rather than data collected passively, such as data that may be collected automatically through pixels or cookies as a consumer navigates through web pages. Finally, the letter reiterated our long-standing positions that no third party should have access to any financial data element permissioned by a customer that is not required to fuel the use case for which that customer has opted in, and that the CFPB should expand its supervisory authority to cover data aggregators.

Member News & Activity

Codat published a blog post entitled “5 reasons you need accounting data for your liquidity assessments” which explained how Small and Medium sized businesses (SMBs) can boost their credit applications by sharing not only their bank information, but also accounting data, since accounting data can provide more granular insights into a business’s liquidity and lets the applicant demonstrate how many bank accounts they have,and the total revenue held in each one.

Envestnet Yodlee has announced a customer-permissioned data sharing agreement with American Express. This new API integration will provide new digital banking options for customers and allow them to more easily leverage their American Express account information to better manage their personal finances and business expenses through secure connections with a variety of third-party applications. This integration eliminates the need for credential sharing, improves data accuracy and reliability, and accelerates financial data access.

GoCardless’ Ben Morfoot, Director of Product Management was recently interviewed on Fintech Futures North American Edition’s “What the Fintech” podcast. Ben and FinTech Futures editor Paul Hindle discuss how businesses can utilize bank payments and their key use cases, how advancements in embedded finance and open banking have enabled payment service providers to offer these methods to meet growing demand, and what the future looks like for the digital payments space.

Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano joined Intercontinental Exchange’s “Inside the ICE House” podcast to talk about the future of payments, navigating mergers and how Fiserv’s Clover platform transforms small businesses. Frank shared his story of rising through the ranks of Wall Street, riding a phoenix through the rebirth of First Data, and the future the FinTech Revolution.

Method published a new blog post from its Co-Founder and COO Mit Shah entitled “The Critical Importance of Liability Account Inclusion in the CFPB’s 1033 Rule.” This piece detailed how Method’s technology can help solve the challenges faced by un-and-underbanked Americans, particularly in rural areas, and how the upcoming CFPB Section 1033 rule can help expand and democratize access to modern payment methods and affordable credit.

M Science CEO  Michael V. Marrale delivered a keynote address at Finovate Spring, where he discussed how M Science is leveraging data and artificial intelligence to help clients outperform and how data is the big winner in an AI driven world.

MX announced that it has partnered with iuvity, a cloud-first digital banking and open service platform provider to enable secure data sharing and financial account aggregation within iuvity’s digital banking platform. Through this partnership, iuvity’s clients will be able to leverage MX’s open finance APIs to provide their customers with a more secure and reliable data sharing experience and power insights to help customers meet their financial goals.

Plaid partnered with MIT Technology Review on an article and report entitled “Open finance heralds a new era: Fintech innovations may hold the key to increasing customer demands, evolving regulatory reform, and ample opportunity.” This piece gives an overview of open banking, how it expands financial access and inclusion, and how it can empower the use of alternative data to improve credit scores and access.

Trustly CBO Craig McDonald joined Austin Prey at Pymnts for a Fireside Chat on Account-to-Account (A2A) payments, how they can offer more value, and why they go hand in hand with Open Banking. McDonald explained that while real-time rails have the potential to disrupt the status quo, open banking is key to unlocking their full potential, saying “all of these things coming together, open banking, the regulatory framework, real-time rails, and the data to be able to adjudicate a transaction in real-time will provide merchants with what they really want — a positive authorization response, great UX, great conversion, low cost and a non-refutable transaction.”

Validify has been acquired by Ribbit, Inc, a provider of alternative bank and payment data. The acquisition will create a leading banking and payment data solutions platform with the largest alternative database of bank and payment data in the marketplace. The companies expect that RIBBIT’s predictive analytics and data assets combined with ValidiFI’s verification and compliance solutions will expand the breadth and depth of products and services offered.

Vaultree CEO Ryan Lasmaili penned his inaugural article as a Forbes Councils Member entitled “Resistance Is Not Futile: How To Fight Cybersecurity Complacency” which highlights fully functional Data-In-Use encryption, the necessity of “compliance over complacency” and describes how end-to-end encryption can be implemented.

Vopay published a new blog post entitled “How Real-Time Payment APIs are Transforming Payroll Software” which describes how real-time API’s work, why they are becoming more popular, how they can help meet the growing needs of the gig economy and demand for faster payouts and early wage access.

Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy joined Bloomberg Technology to discuss the global outlook for tech, the state of cloud adoption, where Xero is headed and its competition with Quickbooks. She also gave a more personal interview for this piece in The Star, where she discussed her life background and goals for the company.

Events and Submission Deadlines

Top