The number of consumers using open banking has doubled in the past six months to more than one million, the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) reports, and there are now a total of 204 regulated service providers — up from 100 at the end of 2018... More
Visa is to acquire Plaid for US$5.3bn, in a move that CEO Al Kelly says “will put us at the epicentre of the fintech world, expanding our total addressable market and accelerating our long-term revenue growth trajectory”... More
JPMorgan Chase, Envestnet l Yodlee sign agreement to increase customers’ control of their data — JPMorgan Chase & Co — “Envestnet I Yodlee is committing to send 100% of its requests for Chase customer data through the bank’s secure API (application programming interface). This will ensure the apps can receive Chase customer data they need while customers control what’s shared with whom…. Because the secure API uses a token-based approach, customers will no longer need to give out their username and password.”
A new open banking system which is set to cut transaction fees by 90% has now entered pilot testing, Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced... More
BBVA, in alliance with Uber, launches first banking product in Mexico that operates in third party app — BBVA — “For the first time we are offering a BBVA product that will ‘live’ in a third party’s platform. In other words, we are bringing the bank to our partner, who in turn is bringing us to their drivers and delivery partners, so they can take advantage of all the benefits that the bank has to offer, all with a single click.”
The UK’s NatWest bank has launched a new service that will let consumers pay online merchants directly from their bank accounts, “saving merchants at least 25% of card processing costs”... More
Despite greater than ever use of smart devices for banking and payments and a desire for the latest technologies, Europeans are some of the most cautious adopters, according to a survey of 15,000 consumers in Europe, America and Australia... More
New payment method for air tickets successfully demonstrated — International Air Transport Association — “IATA Pay is an industry-supported initiative to develop a new payment option for consumers when purchasing a ticket directly from an airline website. It is made possible by the European Commission’s second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), and the UK’s Open Banking regulation. For airlines, the advantages of IATA Pay are: Cheaper payment option compared to other alternatives; Highly secure; Faster cashflow with instant/near instant payment to the merchant; Simpler payment process resulting in fewer lost sales.”
Deutsche Bank has launched Yunar, a wholly-owned subsidiary startup that is taking a loyalty-first approach to building out a fully featured mobile wallet by initially offering a simple way to manage up to 200 loyalty points schemes — and then gradually adding a range of mobile payments and banking services as adoption takes off... More
Facebook taps banks, but for chatbots not purchase data like Google — Techcrunch — “Account linking enables people to receive real-time updates in Facebook Messenger where people can keep track of their transaction data like account balances, receipts, and shipping updates… The idea is that messaging with a bank can be better than waiting on hold over the phone — and it’s completely opt-in. We’re not using this information beyond enabling these types of experiences — not for advertising or anything else.”
Brits cite money saving product recommendations as the biggest incentive to use open banking — Equifax — “Two fifths (40%) of Brits willing to share their bank transaction data with a new lender would do so if it provided them with product recommendations which save them money. Other motivations to share transaction data through open banking include the ability to easily compare products from different financial institutions (36%), being offered tailored incentives for switching to a new provider (34%), and a streamlined process when applying for mortgages (28%) and loans (25%).”
Mastercard unveils solutions to underpin open banking transformation — Mastercard — “Mastercard announced today that it is developing a new suite of services to underpin the transformation taking place in the industry as partners ready themselves to take advantage of Europe’s PSD2 legislation… They will incorporate a pan-European directory of third party providers to help banks to ensure that parties seeking access to a customer’s account are legitimate… They will also feature a connectivity hub that will help third parties establish and maintain communication with banks.”
Visa announces fast track access to its network and $100m investment for European FinTechs — Visa — “The focus will be on supporting startup businesses that are innovating in the arena of open banking and those using emerging technologies that have the potential to create new secure, commerce experiences.”
UK’s Open Banking to launch on 13 January 2018 — Open Banking — “The UK is the first nation to implement a standardised open banking solution. In the UK we are creating a single technology standard enabling new services to be easily built and offered to consumers and small businesses… The first set of Open Banking APIs will go live to third party providers on 13 January.”
2018 is set to be a pivotal year for banks, card issuers and secure credential providers around the world as new market entrants, regulatory environments and technical innovations place increasing pressure on traditional banking and card issuing business models... More
Nordea Open Banking is live — Nordea — “Together with fintechs and other external developers we aim to create new products and services for our customers at a faster pace than we could do by ourselves, while keeping customers firmly in control of what data they wish to expose and which products they wish to use, says Claus Richter, head of cash management solutions at Nordea.”
Starling and Yoyo Wallet: Enabling loyalty with open banking — Starling Bank — “With any other bank, in order to collect loyalty points you would have to manually pay using the Yoyo app using a QR code scanner. However we have created an experience together with Yoyo, using our APIs, which means you don’t need to use any separate apps to pay. You just need to securely connect your Yoyo account to your Starling account from the Yoyo app and allow Yoyo to view your Starling account transactions. You will then be able to collect loyalty points whenever you use your Starling card, Apple Pay or Fitbit Pay at a merchant partner.”
UK’s Open Banking project expanded — Open Banking — “The OBIE [Open Banking Implementation Entity] has now been asked by the CMA9 and Her Majesty’s Treasury to create open banking standards for all payment account types covered by the European Union’s second Payments Services Directive (PSD2). This means customers using credit cards, e-wallets and prepaid cards will also be able to take advantage of open banking services.”
ABN Amro launches its developer portal — ABN Amro — “Besides providing APIs that allow commercial clients easy access to their checking accounts, the bank also offers use of building blocks for sending Tikkie payment requests and sending bulk payment orders. This is also part of ABN Amro’s preparations for the European Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) laws, which – starting in 2018 – will allow regulated third parties to access the checking accounts of clients that have granted permission.”
HSBC to let UK customers manage different bank accounts on one screen with new app — CNBC — “Customers can add accounts from up to 21 different banks, including Barclays, Lloyds and Bank of America. When a new account is added, login details for each account are tailored to that bank’s interface… The bank has spent US$2bn globally to work on its digital banking platform.”
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