11:FS and Plaid joint report examines how open finance will shape the next generation of digital financial services [REPORT]

Open finance data sets promise more affordable, personalised digital
services, encouraging new entrants, including non-financial services firms, to
market.

11:FS, the challenger firm defining and building truly digital financial services, and Plaid, the technology company powering digital apps and services millions of people rely on to manage their finances, have released a joint report on the transition from open banking toward open finance.

The report, “Open finance: shaping the future of financial services” considers the transformative impact of the UK’s Open Finance framework across a customer’s total financial experience.

Based on both company’s experiences and their joint submission to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Call for Input, the report details the shortcomings and successes of Open Banking and recommendations for how the UK should approach Open Finance.

The report examines:

• A framework for ‘open’ financial services: comparing and contrasting the regulatory-led paths of the UK, Europe and Australia with more market-led jurisdictions such as the US and Canada to date.
• Policy considerations: delivering an optimal path for implementing open finance, including comprehensive financial data rights for all consumers, and allowing accredited third parties who specialise in API development and integration to build open finance’s infrastructure.
• The impact on customers: how and why the early success will be sectors that are adjacent to payment accounts data under PSD2. This includes non-invested savings, credit and loans, mortgages, SME finance, pensions and digital identity.
• The potential benefits: how making data available from a wider range of segments and industries will act as a catalyst for new, highly personalised digital services, as well as attracting more non-financial services to the sector.

“Open Finance is genuinely exciting — not something you can always label a regulatory initiative — and will have tangible and immediate, beneficial impacts for consumers. It promises to deliver on the benefits first discussed when open banking arrived by moving the ‘open’ concept beyond the basic account,” commented Adam Davis, Head of Delivery at 11:FS. “The real value does not come from a single data set but from a combination of different data sets. With access to new datasets unlocked, innovators will develop financial services that are more insightful, affordable and personalised.”

“Open banking helped pave the way for the way we manage our money today. However, it limits people with access only to their financial information inside their bank accounts, and does not address the way people want to manage their full financial picture today. Other types of financial information, from payroll to investment to debt, must be a part of any contemporary approach to digital financial solutions,” said Dan Morgan, European Policy Lead at Plaid. “An evolution from Open Banking to Open Finance will address consumers and SMEs’ right to access all of their financial data for a holistic understanding of their finances on their terms. With that right extended, open finance will drive innovation meaning more affordable and effective options for people to better manage their financial lives.”