Mr. Open Banking

Despite the doubts of skeptics, the open banking movement is here and it’s evolving quickly. Right now, over 50 regions around the world are in various stages of implementing open banking, while some are already moving into the next stage of the progression: open finance. In this episode, Eyal sits down with Amit Mallick, the Global Open Banking Practice Lead at Accenture, to discuss the threat posed by open banking, and how major players like big banks can respond as they adjust their strategies to compete and succeed in the new financial ecosystem. During their conversation, Eyal and Amit discuss exactly what’s at stake as we transition to an open data economy ($416 billion in bank revenue, to be exact), how banks can best respond to the coming disruption, and how to discover entirely new kinds of opportunities. 

Specifically they discuss: 

• Why the stakes are so high
• How big banks can avoid losing market share 
• Competition from banks and non-banks
• The four core capabilities banks will need 
• Why embedded finance is the key to value
• The evolution of super apps 
• The transition to an open data economy

While most of the financial sector is in the process of implementing open banking, it’s time to look beyond the horizon to see where this evolution is heading. As open banking standards expand to address more and more sectors of the economy, we are moving from open banking to open finance to open data. Open data will enable individuals to grant and share access to every digital transaction, health record, or energy bill to merchants so they can receive customized services that meet their unique needs. In this episode, Eyal sits down with Samantha Seaton, a champion of financial wellness and CEO of award-winning fintech MoneyHub, to explore how open data is transforming the world. Sam discusses how banks will need to think differently to succeed in the open future, compelling them to revisit three fundamental tenets of banking: value, risk and trust. 

Specifically they discuss:   

The current open banking landscape  

How to generate new kinds of value  

Empowering consumers to own their data  

The risk-reward dynamic of banks and fintechs  

Moving from open banking to open finance to open data  

The importance of building customer trust  

Curating your data an open world  

When it comes to both FinTech and open banking, the UK is leading the charge globally. In this episode, Eyal sits down with one of the key figures behind the country’s leadership in financial innovation: Charlotte Crosswell, the newly appointed Chair and Trustee of the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), which is the organization responsible for bringing open banking to the UK and acting as a shining example for the rest of the world. During their discussion, Charlotte shares her perspective on the UK’s strong FinTech reputation and how it’s evolved throughout her 25-year career serving in key leadership roles at the intersection of financial services, regulation and technology. She also offers her position on the UK’s national digital strategy, the factors that led to the UK’s success and the importance of a strong and inclusive culture. Finally, Charlotte offers her advice to peers in other regions hoping to help usher in this new age of open banking.

Specifically they discuss:

The UK’s FinTech landscape

Charlotte’s time as CEO of Innovate Finance

The UK’s national digital strategy

The driving factors behind the UK’s open banking success 

The importance of culture in open banking

The next incarnation of the OBIE

The future of open banking on a global scale

Charlotte’s advice for other practitioners aiming to adopt open banking

The implications of smart data on businesses and individuals

The world of modern cryptocurrencies has evolved beyond just money, with currencies like Ethereum providing programmable open platforms to build the financial instruments of the future. These new tools aim to re-create and radically improve the centuries-old systems we have today, a movement that has come to be known as decentralized finance, or DeFi. As the head economist of Decentralized Protocols at ConsenSys, Lex Sokolin is an expert on DeFi, as well as crypto and FinTech in general. In his current role, he focuses on protocol crypto-economics, digital assets, public and private blockchains and decentralized finance. In this episode, Eyal and Lex sit down to discuss how DeFi is creating the fabric of an entirely new economy, including where open banking fits into the picture. They cover the difference between different cryptocurrencies, the introduction of smart contracts, and how DeFi is ushering in the new world of finance.

Specifically they discuss:

Overview of crypto

Bitcoin vs. vs. other cryptocurrencies

What are smart contracts?

The emergence of DeFi

Open banking as a bridge

The old economy vs. the new

China has been at the frontier of digital banking innovation since 2014, when their tech giants WeChat and AliPay began driving banks to play catch up with raised user expectations. Creating an entirely different financial ecosystem than what one might experience in North America or even Europe, China’s banking is completely digitally integrated, with cash a long lost piece of the past. In this episode, Eyal sits down with banking innovation expert and author of “Cashless - China’s Digital Currency Revolution”, Richard Turrin, to discuss how China got here and where they are headed. They discuss the inner workings of China’s digital ecosystem, the role of WeChat and Alipay and the launch of Digital Yuan, and what regions with open banking aspirations can learn from China’s experience.

Specifically they discuss:

How market demand fuelled China’s cashless lifestyle;

China’s different approach to open banking compared to the Western world;

Whether or not digital yuan is levelling the playing field for banks; 

How CBDCs will coexist with payment apps; 

What others can learn from China’s digital banking journey

There is little doubt that the birthplace of open banking is Europe. As a concept, open banking can be traced to much earlier times, but it was Europe who, in 2015, enacted the first open banking legislation in the form of the PSD2. Fast forward to today, and Europe is reaping the rewards of being the first mover. Thousands of banks and hundreds of fintechs are now leveraging open banking to communicate with each other using common, secure standards, driving an explosion of innovative financial products and services all across the EU. Although Europe seems united behind common legislation, there have still been delays and confusion, and what works for some countries, doesn’t necessarily work for others. In this episode, Eyal sits down with Panagiotis Kriaris, Head of Business Development at German payment services provider Unzer. Panagiotis has been at the forefront of global open banking since it began, and has spent his career at the intersection of business and technology, bringing senior expertise to financial services across the board, including banking payments, fintech and e-commerce.

Specifically, Eyal and Panagiotis discuss:

The history and evolution of open banking in Europe;

The inevitable disintermediation of financial services;

The coming age of embedded finance;

Banks that have been successful in open banking;

Advice for those hoping to implement open banking.

The concept of digital disruption is no longer revolutionary for most businesses. In fact, digital transformation has become a prerequisite for ensuring you’re not left behind. Although banking is often perceived as a dated industry, banks are no strangers to digital disruption, dating back to the inception of ATMs. Yet disruption today is catapulting beyond familiar ground. The emergence and exponential development of the Internet has eliminated costs associated with running a bank and reaching your customers, costs that were previously considered fundamental. This opens up the door for competition and innovation, creating an environment where savvy customers demand intuitive, customized digital experiences from everyone they deal with - including their banks. In this episode, Eyal sits down with Andrew Moor, President and CEO of EQ Bank, Canada’s Challenger Bank. EQ is committed to exploring how banks can leverage technology to improve the societies in which they operate, so it comes as no surprise that they are strong advocates of open banking.

Specifically, Eyal and Andrew discuss: 

The Canadian banking landscape;

The role of the big five banks;

Infrastructure modernization for open banking;

How to succeed at launching a digital bank;

Business models for banks in the open space.

Open banking isn’t just about finance, it’s also about improving society. One of open banking’s key facets is its ability to create non-zero sum outcomes, meaning that one person’s gain doesn’t equal another person’s loss. Globally, we need to consider how best to harness this quality as we move towards a brighter, greener and more equitable future. In this episode, Eyal sits down with Faith Reynolds, champion of the open banking for good movement. Faith has been in open banking since the beginning, and has worked on a multitude of unique challenges, ranging from enforcement and redress all the way through to accessibility, vulnerability and other issues concerning financial inclusion. Today, Faith is on the board at Fair4All Finance and is a driving force behind Current Account Switch Service at Pay.UK. Together, they discuss how open banking can be used to create a better world, where banks are not just engines of capitalism but also engines of social good. 

Specifically, Eyal and Faith discuss: 

Do banks currently provide a social good?;

Exploring the Open Banking Manifesto; 

How open banking can improve vulnerability, accessibility, and inclusion;

The real needs of the underbanked; 

The right of individuals to claim value from their data.

Right now, approximately two billion people across the globe are unbanked - meaning they have no connection to any banking system of any kind. Banks simply cannot make their business model work to serve low-income households properly, let alone the poor, which means that even the simplest of transactions such as payments become a challenge, often widening the gap between the haves and have nots. However, thanks to technology, things are improving. As the open banking movement continues to expand, the unbanked might just be the perfect source of untapped economic potential. On this episode of Mr. Open Banking, Eyal speaks with Carlos Kazuo Missao, the Director of GFT Group in Sao Paulo and a leader in the digital transformation of financial services. The two discuss how Brazil is using open banking to bridge their societal divide between a mature, developed economy and extreme poverty. 

Specifically, Carlos and Eyal discuss: 

Who are the unbanked and how do they fit into Brazil’s plans; 

How Brazil’s banks are catering the unbanked population; 

The big three regulations Brazillian banks need to follow;

How open banking is leveling the playing field.

Identity - the simple yet complex concept that makes you, you. But in the digital era, identity encompasses not only the individual attributes you capture about yourself, but those that are only revealed only through your online interactions and behaviours. On the one hand, digital identity is a powerful tool for determining our preferences, helping us make decisions and linking us to our devices, as well as to each other. Yet at the same time, it is a form of surveillance, watching and tracking our every move. So how do we ensure that digital identity is used to evolve our abilities, rather than limit them? How do you manage identity in a distributed, digital world? In our first episode of Season Two, Eyal sits down with Nat Sakimura, a renowned technologist known for his work as Chairman at the OpenID Foundation, where he works as a leading identity and privacy standardization architect to answer these very questions.  

Specifically, Nat and Eyal discuss:   

Why digital identity and personal data are important;  

What the OpenID Foundation is and how it works;  

How open banking standards need to adopt digital identity;  

Who the identity providers are today;  

What is the nature of identity itself.