OBIE responds to JROC’s Roadmap for Open Banking

The most enlightening of these panels was a fireside chat between OBIE’s Marion King and Open Banking Excellence’s Helen Child. At the start of the session, Child announced that it had renewed its planned talking points after new UK open banking recommendations were announced earlier this week.

On this news, King said: “My first impression is that this is great. Pretty much everything is covered. What we have here with the JROC roadmap is direction, ambition, momentum, but without being too prescriptive.”

While King acknowledged that there were still aspects to be figured out, she added that this plan gives “the real positivity of hope to innovators, to fintechs, to build their business models around open data, smart data, and start moving the industry forward.” “

King summarized the five main themes of these new recommendations, which are:

1. Levels up availability and performance;
2. Reduce the risk of financial crime;
3. Ensure effective consumer protection if something goes wrong;
4. Improve data flows to third party providers and end users;
5. Promote the use of open banking services.

Child then asked questions about short-term expectations given that the roadmap is set over the next two years. King argued: “nothing in terms of payments will change immediately, but the dialogue will change, the ‘can do’ will change. In terms of working through government frameworks that are already in place.”

Child also asked King whether she believes these 29-point recommendations provide the UK with the platform to maintain its global leadership position. King replied: “it does, but we have a lot to work through. One of the pressing things is: what is a commercial model? What is an economic model that underpins the open banking we have today to move to open finance , which uses smart data to create new business models and create benefits across communities?”

In addition to this, King mentioned a continuing problem for open banking: “We need to find a way to get sustainable funding. We cannot go through a different budget every year that is waiting to be approved.” She continued: “This cannot be a free service for all because this is investment”

King concluded on a positive note for the future of open banking, stating: “We’re really going to drive this forward, we’re really going to create new opportunities for new businesses, as well as demystify and make it easier for consumer businesses to manage their financial health. “