The past summer months have been anything but uneventful when it comes to Open Banking headlines. Back in June, with the acquisition of Tink by Visa for a whopping EUR 1.8 billion, we have clearly seen a trend in Europe that Open Banking is worth the money and the time to invest.
We have thus singled out the top 10 news and headlines in the past 30 days in Europe on the topic of Open Banking. We probably missed a few, as we tried to focus on Europe alone, and it is definitely worth mentioning that the US and Canada are rapidly joining the Open Banking wave. Highly likely it is worth to have these countries also in mind when scouring the news for the latest updates.
To avoid ranking the news by relevance or importance, we have created a chronological calendar of events, going backwards for the past month.
17 August: JP Morgan and AmEx invest in Plaid
Open Banking platform Plaid has topped up its Series D financing round with investments from JP Morgan Private Capital Growth Equity Partners and Amex Ventures. The amount invested was not disclosed but it comes four months after the initial USD 425 million Series D, which valued Plaid at USD 13.5 billion. Check out more on this investment by reading the full press release.
17th of August: Žltý melon, Salt Edge partner for Open Banking lending
Žltý melón, a Slovak P2P lending platform, has joined forces with Salt Edge, a developer of Open Banking solutions, to implement PSD2-integrated access to clients’ bank data and streamline the loan application journey. Joining forces with Salt Edge, Žltý melón gets instant access to more than 2,500 banks across Europe, including major Slovak and Czech banks, thus making the loan application flow for their clients more streamlined and frictionless.
16th of August: Open Banking Implementation Entity launches consultation on version 3.1.9 of the OBIE Standard
The Open Banking Implementation (OBIE) has just launched a consultation on version 3.1.9 of the OBIE Standard. This represents the next stage in the development of Open Banking in the UK. The OBIE welcomes responses to the consultation from all interested parties. The consultation process will take place between the 16th August and 3rd September 2021.
10th of August: Banfico releases Open Banking directory
Banfico has launched an Open Banking Directory Service, enhancing its Open Banking portfolio, already being used by communities around the world. The Banfico Directory will form part of the TPP regulatory validation service being used by Account Servicing Payment Service Providers (ASPSPs) in Europe and UK.
5th of August: Moneyhub makes Open Banking payments the default way to pay
Moneyhub, an Open Finance data, intelligence and payments platform, has made its payments system available to all its white label clients. The functionality allows all businesses to build tailored products and services that incorporate card-free payments, as well as offering consent-driven access to financial analytics and insights. Now everyone using the Moneyhub platform, including white label clients, have access to the same Open Banking card-free payments protocol, allowing their users to easily transfer money between accounts using just one service rather than a number of different apps or portals.
5th of August: Santander UK launches payment app using Open Banking technology
Santander UK has begun the roll-out of a new mobile app, built using Open Banking technology, for its corporate and commercial banking clients. The app provides Santander UK’s clients with a ‘single view’ of numerous account balances and transactions across their different banks. Created by tomato pay, an Open Banking fintech for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the CashFlow Manager app is also designed to speed up payments through QR codes and simplify invoicing.
3rd of August: Odoo taps Salt Edge to accelerate invoices and payments reconciliation via Open Banking
With a second feature in our list, Salt Edge has announced a partnership with Odoo, a CRM and ERP system, for instant access to banking data, and to enable businesses to reconcile invoices and payments as quickly as possible.
28th of July: finleap connect makes its first acquisition with Spanish Open Banking provider MyValue Solutions
Through this first acquisition, finleap connect will benefit from MyValue Solutions bringing in its distinguished technology and significant customer base, including its status as trusted partner for notable financial institutions. Additionally, the acquisition advances finleap connect’s international expansion and reinforces its presence in one of the most relevant European markets with regard to Open Banking. Check out their press release for more information.
26th of July: Mastercard and Lloyds Bank partner on new Open Banking checkout solution
Mastercard and Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking have collaborated to deliver a new Open Banking payment solution to Lloyds Bank’s business clients. Lloyds Bank’s PayFrom Bank, enabled by Mastercard’s Open Banking Merchant Payment Solution, lets consumers make payments on an organisation’s website directly from their bank account, without having to enter any payment details.
22nd of July: Visa acquires Currencycloud, which makes APIs for remittances and currency transfers, in a USD 963 mln deal
In another strategic move of money movement facilitation, Visa has acquired Currencycloud, a London-based developer of APIs that power remittance and currency exchange services. Currencycloud has some 500 customers in 180 countries that use its APIs to power multicurrency wallets, currency exchange services and account management, including some of the biggest startups around, such as Monzo, Moneze, Starling, Revolut and Dwolla.
What’s next?
There is a clear appetite for Open Banking technology, investments and acquisitions, which may be attributed to a post-pandemic effort of companies to adapt and to adopt digital transformation trends and technologies. However, it is quite difficult to identify which will be the next phase of Open Banking across Europe. PSD2 does present the opportunity to lower risk, anticipate financial distress, and even increase sales, while improving the customer experience.
Yet as we approach the September 2-year anniversary since PSD2 went into full effect we can’t help but wonder how things will evolve. And with The European Commission’s letter in September 2020 on the Retail Payments Strategy for the EU, promoting data-driven innovation and enhanced access and data sharing as priorities for the EU’s Digital Finance Strategy, while pushing for an Open Finance Framework to be established by 2024, we can only be eager to see what lies in store.