Four UK banks ready for Open Banking deadline
JUST FOUR of the UK’s nine largest banks have confirmed they will meet the 13 January deadline for complying with Open Banking regulations.
AIB Group, Danske, Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide told Peer2Peer Finance News that they will be ready for the launch date.
The other five banks – Bank of Ireland, Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Santander – told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last month they would not be able to release all the data needed in time.
Open Banking is a UK regulatory initiative that mirrors the Payment Services Directive II in the EU. Both sets of legislation aim to create more competition in the banking industry and encourage innovation.
Under the new rules, the nine banks with the largest market share are required to adopt and maintain common API (application programming interface) standards through which they will share data with other providers and third parties.
The first set of APIs are due to go live to third parties on 13 January, with a managed roll-out that will complete in March 2018.
A spokesperson for Nationwide said the bank has completed the majority of the work required. It is currently in the testing phase, which includes live testing, security testing and industry testing.
“We now just need to conclude this phase, in the interests of providing a secure and reliable service for our members,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, AIB said supporting a better banking experience for customers through the facilitation of Open Banking is a priority for First Trust Bank and Allied Irish Bank (GB).
“We’re well positioned to deliver on our Open Banking commitments for 13 January 2018 to enable the ecosystem to grow and succeed,” an AIB spokesperson stated.
Read more: City regulator warns against too much Open Banking hype
The five banks that are unable to meet the deadline have been issued with directions stipulating the timeline for the delivery of outstanding data sets and how they must report progress.
Santander’s subsidiary Cater Allen has been given a one year extension, Bank of Ireland has been given until the end of summer, and Barclays, HSBC and RBS have been given a few extra weeks.
Open Banking is being viewed as an exciting opportunity for the peer-to-peer lending sector.
Zopa is planning to build its own Open Banking infrastructure and is advertising for a technology-focused product manager to lead its development.
Zopa’s chief product officer Andrew Lawson told attendees at the LendIt Europe conference that Open Banking could create interesting opportunities when validating customers, as well as open up new data on pricing.
Read more: Consumers need educating about benefits of Open Banking
