Financial Data and Technology Association’s submission to the FCA provides pathway to open access to aggregation services
The Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA), the industry body for financial technology (fintech) companies which give consumers more control over their financial data, has submitted evidence to the FCA on its cash savings market study.
FDATA’s members – six of the leading companies in the industry – use security credentials shared by the user to aggregate their financial life in one place. Our members’ services include:
- aggregating savings and debts to create a holistic analysis of a consumer’s financial situation
- analysing whether it is more efficient to save or to pay off credit
- checking whether the savings or lending rate on a product can be bettered elsewhere
FDATA made the following points, amongst others, in its submission:
- the market for financial data aggregation is far more open and advanced in other countries, notably the US, than it is here in the UK
- large numbers of consumers are dissuaded from using our members’ services as a result of banks’ and financial institutions’ restrictive Ts&Cs
- there has been no single fraud or data security breach as a result of a UK aggregation service
- we want to coalesce the industry and create a set of minimum industry standards for operating as an aggregator in an open data era
The full submission can be read here.
Commenting, FDATA director Andy Maciver said:
“Our members provide an incredibly valuable service to the personal and small business markets, allowing them to manage all their accounts, of different types and with different providers, in one place.
“It is a testament to the services our members provide that they have built a large customer base despite many consumers’ banks and account providers attempting to frighten them off using aggregation.
“The era of openness in financial data must now be ushered in. We want consumers to benefit from our members’ services without being held in breach of terms and conditions and we want to be at the centre of a thriving new British fintech industry legitimised and underpinned by strict standards of practice.”