Mr. Open Banking

Recorded live at the inaugural edition of Fintech Nerdcon in Miami, Florida, Eyal is joined by Alex Johnson, the Founder of Fintech Takes, one of the most widely-read publications in the fintech industry. The United States' first real attempt at regulating open banking, known as Section 1033, has been anything but smooth; challenged on day one, declared unlawful, and stuck in court-ordered limbo. At the center of that chaos sits a deeper fight over who controls personal financial data and who gets to profit from it. Eyal and Alex dig into what this turbulence reveals, not just about America's uniquely chaotic path to open banking, but about the questions every market must eventually face around standards, cost recovery and trust, questions which only grow more urgent as agentic AI enters the picture. Ultimately, this leads to the biggest question of all, one that reaches far beyond open banking: How do we create a world where we have the right to control our own data?

 Specifically they discuss:

• Regulatory chaos in the U.S.
• Charging fees for data access
• The role of shared standards
• Agentic AI and open banking 
• The future of data rights

Recorded live at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Eyal is joined by Jess Turner, EVP and Global Head of Open Finance & Developer Experience at Mastercard. Credit cards, and the networks that power them, have been a central part of the global financial system for over 70 years, providing far more than just payments. As money becomes more and more digital, the role these networks play as data brokers and data custodians, is evolving in lockstep, fueled even further by the rise of open banking. Far from being viewed as a threat, card providers have been rapidly evolving to embrace the new opportunities presented by open banking, open finance and open data. Eyal and Jess discuss how the card industry is being impacted by this shift, and how Mastercard is working to firmly position itself as one of the leading trailblazers.

 Specifically they discuss:

• How card networks unlock data
• The importance of open standards
• Region-specific considerations
• Trust, consent and control
• The legacy of Mastercard

Recorded live at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, Eyal is joined by two guests at the center of the great debate surrounding open banking in the United States: John Court, EVP & General Counsel at the Banking Policy Institute (BPI) and Penny Lee, President & CEO at the Financial Technology Association (FTA). In late 2024, after many years of deliberation, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released the final version of their Personal Financial Data Rights rule, also known as Section 1033. On the day of its release, the rule was immediately challenged in court, marking the beginning of a drama unlike any other in the open banking space. John and Penny represent the two major players on either side of the court case itself, making them uniquely qualified to discuss where American open banking is headed. 

 Specifically they discuss:



• How Section 1033 came to be
• What happened the day of its release
• Major issues in the great debate
• The validity of charging for data access
• Where 1033 currently stands

Recorded live at Open Banking Expo Canada in Toronto, Eyal is joined by Saba Shariff, Chief Strategy, Product & Innovation Officer at Symcor, a leading infrastructure provider to the largest Canadian banks. The road to open banking in Canada has been long and difficult. After many years of deliberation and delay, they finally  passed their first open banking regulation in 2024, known as the Consumer-Driven Banking Act. Since then, progress has been stalled by political turmoil. However, with a new prime minister now in place and a renewed focus on nation building, Canada’s 2025 budget announcement aims to take their open banking efforts to the next level. Eyal and Saba discuss the journey of open banking in Canada so far, the approach taken in the Consumer-Driven banking regulation, and what the new budget announcement portends for the near future.

Specifically they discuss:

• A history of open banking in Canada
• The Consumer-Driven Banking Act
• What makes Canada’s approach unique
• The advantages of being late
• Big updates from the 2025 budget

Recorded live at Fintech Americas in Miami, Florida, Eyal is joined by author and advisor Chris Colbert, former Managing Director at the Harvard Innovation Lab and Partner at Digital Fuel Capital. Technological innovation is often a double-edged sword; despite our best intentions, the progress we make often comes with unintended consequences. As open banking and other technological initiatives change the nature of money itself, we must be thoughtful and intentional about the direction of that change, with a particular focus on human values. This episode looks at open banking and technology in general through a philosophical lens, asking how our innovations can help bring us closer to each other and closer to understanding ourselves. Eyal and Chris discuss the negative impact of technology, the role of humanism in designing better systems, and how open banking has a part to play.

 Specifically they discuss:

• The three technological pillars of society
• Modern negative consequences
• How humanism leads to better systems 
• Measures for a successful society
• Keeping the human at the center

Recorded live at Fintech Americas in Miami, Florida, Eyal is joined by Matheus Rauber, Senior Advisor and Head of the Open Finance division at the Central Bank of Brazil. Of all the countries that have begun their open banking journeys, few have been as successful as Brazil. Today, their open finance ecosystem supports broad consent-based data sharing (including for insurance and investments), seamless integration with a public real-time payment rail, and a comprehensive trust framework for accreditation and liability. While many are familiar with Brazil's early success in 2021, far fewer know what has happened since then; this conversation revisits Brazil, to see where they are today, four years later. Eyal and Matheus discuss how Brazil achieved their early success, some of the challenges they have faced since, and where they intend to go next in maintaining their coveted position as global leaders.

 Specifically they discuss:

• Brazil's road towards open finance
• Challenges faced along the way
• Balancing the market and regulations
• The critical importance of governance
• Next steps for Brazilian open finance

In the final episode recorded live from Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Eyal sits down with leaders from the the three major U.S. core banking providers: Hashim Toussaint, General Manager of Digital & Open Banking at FIS; Chad Killingsworth, Head of Engineering at Jack Henry; and Sunil Sachdev, SVP, Head of Embedded Finance at Fiserv. Among them, these three providers serve not dozens or even hundreds of banks, but thousands, as they enable the long tail of a richly diverse and populous American banking ecosystem. Given their reach, for open banking to succeed in the U.S. the cores will have to embrace it, and throughout this discussion our guests break down exactly how their firms intend to do so. The conversation covers the latest regulatory developments, including the new compliance timeline, the exclusion of smaller banks from regulatory requirements, and how the U.S. cores are ultimately being driven by the real demands of digitally-savvy consumers more than by regulatory mandates.

 Specifically they discuss:

• The role of core banking providers
• The CFPB rule and compliance timelines 
• Security frameworks and API strategies 
• Smaller banks’ exclusion from regulation
• The choice to build vs. buy vs. partner

Recorded live at Money 20/20, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Eyal is joined by three leading voices from the open banking community whom he knows rather well: Michelle Beyo, CEO & Founder of Finavator; David Birch, Author, Advisor and Principal at 15Mb; and Don Cardinal, Senior Vice President at the Financial Data Exchange. Together, they examine how open banking is taking shape across Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, offering insights informed by their respective regions. Between them, they provide a global perspective on the evolution of open banking, not only based on activity in different regions, but across the three main pillars of open banking infrastructure: data sharing, real-time payments, and digital identity. David delves into the UK's early open banking implementation, Don explores the U.S.’ market-driven approach to open finance, and Michelle shares her advocacy for a human-rights-based view of data ownership. From universal data rights to the rise of digital wallets, this conversation provides a comprehensive look at where the open banking standard is today and where it is headed.

 Specifically they discuss:

• Global approaches to open banking 
• The significance of data rights
• Real-time payments and digital wallets
• How digital identity plays a crucial role
• The future of open banking in the US

Recorded live at Money 20/20, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Eyal is joined by the open banking leads from three major US aggregators: John Pitts, Head of Policy at Plaid; Jane Barratt, Chief Advocacy Officer at MX; and Anil Mahalaha, Chief Evangelist at Akoya. Aggregators, sometimes called data access networks, provide third parties with connectivity to a wide range of banks. In the US in particular, they are uniquely crucial, having built out an early form of open banking over the past few decades. As the region moves towards standardization and regulation, they will continue to play a pivotal role. Together, Eyal and his guests discuss the continued implications of the CFPB’s final ruling on Personal Financial Data Rights, the evolving role of aggregators, and the impact of API-driven connectivity. The conversation explores whether regulation is truly necessary, how it will shape the competitive landscape, and what’s next for the future of financial data access in America. 

 Specifically they discuss:

• CFPB’s Personal Financial Data Rights Rule
• The role of aggregators in the U.S.
• The transition from screen scraping to APIs
• Perspectives on secondary data use
• The commercialization of data access

Does the United States have open banking? Well, that depends on how it’s defined. If that definition is less about regulation and more about the adoption of a common technical standard for the secure exchange of financial data, then the U.S. is considerably further along. Much of this progress is due to the Financial Data Exchange (FDX), a private non-profit founded in 2018 to unite players across financial services in creating a common standard for consent-driven data sharing. For the final, extra-length episode of Season 5, Kevin Feltes, the new CEO of FDX, joins us to discuss the state of American open banking amidst the regulatory changes unfolding under Section 1033. Eyal and Kevin sit down to talk about all things FDX, sharing the organization’s origins, what’s in the FDX tool belt to help it punch above its weight, and what it means for FDX to operate at the intersection of regulatory and market forces. Diving into possible futures, they unpack how flexibility is the key to ensuring American open banking continues to grow and thrive.

 Specifically they discuss:

• The origins of the Financial Data Exchange
• How the FDX API is member-driven
• The impact of Section 1033 regulation
• Balancing market and regulatory forces
• The role FDX plays in U.S. open banking