Latest news with #openbanking
Finextra
2 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
UK launches Smart Data Group to bring benefits of open banking to more sectors
The UK is looking to build on the success of open banking through the launch of a government-backed, industry-led Smart Data Group designed to unlock £28 billion in economic value across a variety of sectors. 0 Last week, the Data (Use and Access) Bill passed in parliament, paving the way for the expansion of the open banking model, giving consumers the power to share their data more widely across new use cases in energy, finance, telecoms and retail. By enabling Brits to explicitly consent to secure, standardised sharing of personal data with providers, the aim is to ensure these users can get tailored services, seamless switching, and better deals. Chaired by former Minister for Smart Data, Paul Scully, The Smart Data Group has been tasked with making this a reality, uniting policymakers and industry experts. Open banking veterans Richard Newman and Clare Ambrosino will be in operational charge of the group, with advisory board members including Jonathan Ashworth, Lord Iain McNicol, Lord Martin Callanan, and Sir Robbie Gibb, underscoring strong cross-party support. Business and Trade Minister Justin Madders says: 'Smart Data has the power to transform the way we do business and has potential to supercharge start-ups across the country. 'This new group will play an important role in unlocking that potential, and our modern Industrial Strategy will be a driving force to boost our priority sectors and drive economic growth right across the nation.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Interview: James Neville CEO of Yaspa
With over 10 years of experience as a founder, as well as holding previous roles as CTO at Worldpay and Just Eat, James Neville, CEO of Yaspa, is perfectly qualified to discuss all things related to open banking and payments. He is also one of the payments sector's leading experts in identity verification. It is rather stating the obvious to note that open banking has the potential to revolutionise payments. It offers faster, more secure, and cost-effective transactions. But Yaspa's research highlights a key challenge: naming conventions matter. Pay-by-Bank, Pay by bank account, Account-to-account payments, A2A, Open banking. Instant payments are all terms used to refer to the same, simple method of a payment made from one bank account to another. That is a payment initiated through open banking providers, meaning consumers avoid the chore of typing in, checking and verifying the transfer details. 'Pay by Bank' is gaining traction, but its meaning remains ambiguous to many consumers. This is one key takeaway from the Yaspa Index 2025, launched to act as a benchmark for industry awareness and to provide valuable insights for businesses looking to optimise their payment offerings. 55% of UK adults report familiarity with the term 'Pay by Bank', but 45% remain unaware of the phrase despite its growing presence in online checkouts; Security (72%) and ease of use (66%) are the top priorities for consumers choosing a payment method; QR code payments are on the rise, yet only 27% of respondents used them for transactions in the past year, and Consumer education remains critical to driving open banking adoption, particularly in high-growth sectors such as gaming and retail. Neville tells EPI that there is still an element of consumer education that needs to happen and that it is very demographic dependent. That is a polite way of saying that towards the older range of the demographic spectrum that there is work to do, 'A lot of people are using the new tools without knowing the actual banking terms for the tools they're using. We don't expect consumers to really understand the mechanics of it. Pay by bank, knowing that you're using your banking app or the bank services to make a payment and the need to differentiate from cards - that is important.' If open banking is ever to realise its full potential, issues such as data transparency, improvements in payment execution and enhanced fraud prevention are essential. Yaspa is committed to driving these changes, working with industry partners to help shape a more seamless and secure future for open banking payments. Neville is also championing the standardisation of language related to open banking across the industry to help boost consumer understanding and adoption. The challenge then is to ensure that consumers understand the benefits to them of using instant bank payments. For example, speed, security, control and fewer input errors. And then, once consumers have used it in one place, recognising it's available as an option in another place, even if it's from a different provider. Looking ahead, Neville is optimistic that open banking can deliver a frictionless experience for businesses and consumers alike. With the right enhancements, it could soon rival - and even surpass - traditional card payments in convenience, security, and efficiency. 'We're pretty unique in the space in that we connect identity and money. So we do lots of clever things, like providing bank identity on the transaction itself, and we provide financial health of that individual at the point of payment.' Yaspa already operates across 19 European markets and is now plotting expansion in the Americas. Neville has good reason to look ahead with optimism. "Interview: James Neville CEO of Yaspa" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Interview: James Neville CEO of Yaspa
With over 10 years of experience as a founder, as well as holding previous roles as CTO at Worldpay and Just Eat, James Neville, CEO of Yaspa, is perfectly qualified to discuss all things related to open banking and payments. He is also one of the payments sector's leading experts in identity verification. It is rather stating the obvious to note that open banking has the potential to revolutionise payments. It offers faster, more secure, and cost-effective transactions. But Yaspa's research highlights a key challenge: naming conventions matter. Pay-by-Bank, Pay by bank account, Account-to-account payments, A2A, Open banking. Instant payments are all terms used to refer to the same, simple method of a payment made from one bank account to another. That is a payment initiated through open banking providers, meaning consumers avoid the chore of typing in, checking and verifying the transfer details. 'Pay by Bank' is gaining traction, but its meaning remains ambiguous to many consumers. This is one key takeaway from the Yaspa Index 2025, launched to act as a benchmark for industry awareness and to provide valuable insights for businesses looking to optimise their payment offerings. 55% of UK adults report familiarity with the term 'Pay by Bank', but 45% remain unaware of the phrase despite its growing presence in online checkouts; Security (72%) and ease of use (66%) are the top priorities for consumers choosing a payment method; QR code payments are on the rise, yet only 27% of respondents used them for transactions in the past year, and Consumer education remains critical to driving open banking adoption, particularly in high-growth sectors such as gaming and retail. Neville tells EPI that there is still an element of consumer education that needs to happen and that it is very demographic dependent. That is a polite way of saying that towards the older range of the demographic spectrum that there is work to do, 'A lot of people are using the new tools without knowing the actual banking terms for the tools they're using. We don't expect consumers to really understand the mechanics of it. Pay by bank, knowing that you're using your banking app or the bank services to make a payment and the need to differentiate from cards - that is important.' If open banking is ever to realise its full potential, issues such as data transparency, improvements in payment execution and enhanced fraud prevention are essential. Yaspa is committed to driving these changes, working with industry partners to help shape a more seamless and secure future for open banking payments. Neville is also championing the standardisation of language related to open banking across the industry to help boost consumer understanding and adoption. The challenge then is to ensure that consumers understand the benefits to them of using instant bank payments. For example, speed, security, control and fewer input errors. And then, once consumers have used it in one place, recognising it's available as an option in another place, even if it's from a different provider. Looking ahead, Neville is optimistic that open banking can deliver a frictionless experience for businesses and consumers alike. With the right enhancements, it could soon rival - and even surpass - traditional card payments in convenience, security, and efficiency. 'We're pretty unique in the space in that we connect identity and money. So we do lots of clever things, like providing bank identity on the transaction itself, and we provide financial health of that individual at the point of payment.' Yaspa already operates across 19 European markets and is now plotting expansion in the Americas. Neville has good reason to look ahead with optimism. "Interview: James Neville CEO of Yaspa" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Finextra
3 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
D•One delivers open banking connectivity to JaJa Finance
D•One, the open banking services business from The ClearScore Group, has announced a partnership with Jaja Finance to provide the insights-driven lender with open banking connectivity and transaction categorisation intelligence. 0 Jaja is the latest in a long line of progressive lenders leveraging alternative data to make responsible credit offers to consumers who would otherwise be excluded from mainstream lending. The partnership will enable Jaja to enhance financial inclusion by using data beyond traditional credit decisioning methods, offering a comprehensive view of a customer's financial health. This approach will ensure better outcomes for its customers. D•One offers Jaja the ability to efficiently integrate consumers' banking data into mainstream lending decisions. This data can be used to power smarter decisions, with enhanced accuracy leading to better outcomes for credit applicants and for lenders. D•One will also partner with Jaja to deliver more accurate income verification, risk insights, and affordability assessments. Tim Kelleway, Managing Director at D•One, said: 'Jaja is leveraging our enriched dataset to better understand financial behaviours and bring about more inclusive and sustainable lending decisions. This past year, we've seen a huge engagement with our proposition, and we've signed up some of the UK's most successful fintechs. The work we are doing here with our lender partners is undoubtedly changing the shape of credit decisioning in the UK, for the good of lenders and consumers.' Francesco Di Costanzo, Chief Executive Officer at Jaja, said: "Partnering with D•One to enhance our open banking offering is not just a strategic move for Jaja; it's a commitment to offering our customers simple, fair and efficient credit. This partnership is the next step in demonstrating our dedication to innovation and inclusivity. 'At Jaja, we continuously explore new data sources and innovative approaches to better serve our customers. Leveraging D•One's capabilities with our advanced analytics and risk models marks another milestone in transforming credit analytics for their benefit.' D•One uses a unique combination of extensive open banking records and credit expertise to drive immediate value for its lender clients. This includes identifying positive and negative risk indicators otherwise obfuscated in the transaction data, thereby 'splitting' the risk level of applicants and enabling up to a 60% reduction in arrears with no reduction in lending volume. As a result, it has helped participating lenders expand their risk decisioning beyond a reliance on credit reference agencies alone, enabling them to lend fairly and responsibly to financially excluded segments of society at a time where living costs have been escalating rapidly. In the last 12 months D•One's enriched open banking data has enabled approximately 120,000 consumers to receive an affordable loan that would otherwise have been declined.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Federal government says it will move open banking forward at ‘earliest opportunity'
A magnifying glass enlarges the holographic image of Parliament Hill's Peace Tower on a 20 dollar bill issued at the Bank of Canada Museum in Ottawa on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang OTTAWA — The federal government says it will introduce legislation to implement open banking at its 'earliest opportunity' as some advocates warn the project's momentum may have stalled. Open banking — or consumer-driven banking, as Ottawa calls it — is about allowing Canadians and businesses to securely share their financial data with third parties other than their banks. Open banking could let Canadians with multiple accounts across different banks see their entire financial picture on one convenient dashboard. It also could help renters build their credit scores just by paying their rent on time every month. Other nations have implemented open banking systems and the federal Liberals passed initial legislation last year to break ground on open banking in Canada. But getting to that point — and keeping up the pressure to get the second half of that legislation tabled — has been 'a slog,' said Fintechs Canada executive director Alex Vronces. 'I don't think the government at first understood really what consumer-driven banking was,' he said. After years of study, Ottawa got the ball rolling on open banking through the legislation to implement the 2024 federal budget roughly a year ago. That bill gave the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada a mandate to head up the country's open banking framework. Legislation is still required to implement a plan to accredit service providers and set the common rules that financial institutions will have to follow. The Liberal government said in the 2024 fall economic statement that it's looking at early 2026 for implementation of open banking. But Canada has gone through a federal election since those plans were made — and while the Liberals were returned to power with another minority government, references to consumer-driven banking were absent from the party's election platform. And the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney did not table a spring budget, which it normally would use to outline its legislative priorities. Natacha Boudrias, leader of the National Bank of Canada's open banking strategy, said the industry lacks 'clarity' on the future shape of consumer-driven banking. She said the spring election likely stalled movement on the file. 'We're certainly hoping that the government is going to kick-start the effort sooner rather than later so that we don't get stuck in a loop of consultation,' she said. A Finance Canada official said in a media statement that the government is still committed to consumer-driven banking. 'The remaining elements of the consumer-driven banking framework will be introduced at the earliest opportunity, to ensure that Canadian consumers and business can securely benefit from tools that help them reduce costs and improve their financial outcomes,' the statement says. Instead of waiting on Ottawa, the National Bank has moved forward on its own open-banking framework that lets fintechs — financial technology firms that develop apps for Canadians and businesses — essentially plug into their databases to share information securely when users give their permission. The status quo for financial data sharing is 'screen scraping,' a process that usually sees an individual share banking credentials with a third party to access the information an app needs to run. But Boudrias said there's no control over how much or how little data is shared through screen scraping — it's all or nothing, making it a potential privacy nightmare. Open banking ideally takes that firehose of data and narrows it, giving users control over the information a fintech sees and how long it can access it. 'It's about putting the rails of trust in place,' Boudrias said. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada commissioner Shereen Benzvy Miller addressed the risks of screen scraping in notes for her keynote address at the Open Banking Expo in Toronto on Tuesday. Benzvy Miller said Canadians are already sharing data widely with fintechs but they may not know much about the privacy risks involved. She said part of the agency's task will be to drive consumer awareness of open banking to build trust. 'We envision a future — not far off — where consumers can securely share their financial data with trusted providers at the tap of a button,' she said in a copy of the speech shared with The Canadian Press. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada will be in charge of building and vetting a public registry of fintechs that Canadians and financial service providers can trust to handle data securely. These fintechs will be granted a handy visual logo to mark their accreditation. Benzvy Miller said the agency is also working with Finance Canada on setting out common rules for the system and the agency is looking forward to seeing legislative amendments from the finance minister. But if that final legislation isn't tabled soon, Vronces said, the agency will be stuck in 'regulatory purgatory.' 'They'll have a mandate but they won't be able to do anything with it,' he said. Getting to this point has been a long haul for Vronces, who has been lobbying on behalf of Canadian fintechs for roughly seven years. He said he has reasons to believe Carney will be a champion of consumer-driven banking. Carney was governor of the Bank of England when the United Kingdom introduced such a system in 2017. The opportunity to implement open banking comes as a pivotal time, Vronces said, as Carney looks to overhaul the Canadian economy and improve productivity in the face of global trade upheaval. Open banking could light a fire under Canada's financial sector, he said, because big banks would be forced to diversify their services and compete with the wider fintech industry. Vronces said early conversations with the federal government give him hope that the second half of the legislation will be tabled soon, possibly alongside the federal budget in the fall. He compared the open banking file to a magazine that's already had the articles written and the layout set, with just a few finishing touches remaining. 'It's really not a lot of work for the government to complete its promise,' he said. 'It just needs to hit print.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
