Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by Mike Cascone, vice president, government experience, Americas at Xero and Eric Saumure, principal at Zenbooks ahead of their session at Open Banking Expo Canada 2025. In this episode, they discuss the specific needs of Canada’s small businesses and, in particular, the business banking challenges they face in the current environment. Mike and Eric discuss the potential for Open Banking to address SMBs’ pain points and how to encourage awareness of Open Banking’s benefits among small business owners.

Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by Hamish Wood, vice president, customer success at GoCardless and Dave Campbell, operations lead at Tembo, to discuss how UK businesses can benefit from being “early adopters” of new payment technology, such as Open Banking. Dave explains how Open Banking has enabled Tembo to help individuals get onto the property ladder, while Hamish reveals how GoCardless has approached Open Banking innovation with customer experience front and centre. They also talk about the myths and misconceptions that still need to be busted in order to encourage more widespread adoption of Open Banking technology.

Salt Edge’s head of accounts executive Mihail Ceres and chief product officer Ilia Dragan join Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to discuss the transition from an Open Banking to an Open Finance ecosystem. They consider regulation versus market-driven approaches, and what is behind the evolution of Open Finance use cases. They explain the practical applications of Open Finance that demonstrate its untapped potential, and what countries need to know as they make the shift to Open Finance.

In this episode, Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by guests from across the ecosystem to delve into the SEPA Payment Account Access scheme. Ghela Boskovich, head of Europe at FDATA, Louise Beaumont, senior vice president, Open Banking & Open Finance, global industry & policy engagement at Mastercard, Robert Sullivan, Token.io’s public policy and strategy director, and Gijs Boudewijn, general manager at the Dutch Payments Association discuss how its implementation will unlock commercial Open Banking payments and pave the way towards an Open Finance future. They consider what needs to happen to encourage adoption of SPAA and how the success of SPAA will be measured.

Jamie Leach, Open Data strategist at Raidiam, joins Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to bring listeners up to speed with Open Banking in Australia, where it’s better known as the Consumer Data Right (CDR). She talks about some of the setbacks faced by the CDR and what the Australian government’s recent “reset” means for progress. Jamie reveals the strategies and developments she believes are required to advance CDR, as well as the innovations in Australia that make her excited for the future.

In this episode, Conor Tiernan, VibePay’s head of insights, joins Ellie Duncan to discuss joining the business to build out its new insights platform, VibePay Insights, which uses Open Banking data. Conor explains his own background in financial advice, payments and Open Banking, including most recently at Klarna, where he headed up its Open Banking initiatives. He explains how VibePay is helping businesses and brands to engage with an audience directly by identifying purchasing trends and establishing buying intent – what he refers to as “conversational commerce”. Conor discusses the potential value that this offering can create for brands and their customers. Finally, with VibePay having secured additional funding from existing investors recently, the conversation moves onto the UK fintech sector more generally, and the UK government’s National Payments Vision.

Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by Jim Wadsworth and Lauren Jones, who recently joined Raidiam as head of advisory and strategic advisory partner, respectively. They reveal how, in their new roles, they will spearhead a new advisory service, Raidiam Advise, and how this will fit alongside its core business. Lauren reveals why she think Switzerland’s Open Finance approach is one of her favourite implementations and why she’ll be moderating a Fireside Chat on it at Open Banking Expo UK & Europe this October. Finally, they discuss why Raidiam is headline partner of the Open Banking Expo Award 2024 and the importance of recognising the industry innovators.

Ivo Venetziev, co-founder and chief executive officer of Open Banking provider Contiant, joins Ellie Duncan on the podcast to discuss European payment initiatives, such as SEPA Instant and the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme. He explains how this has helped Europe achieve payments harmonisation. Ivo also highlights some of the pain points that remain for European merchants and consumers alike, including IBAN discrimination and unsettled funds, and where there are opportunities to improve the checkout experience.

Paolo Zaccardi, co-founder and chief executive officer of European Open Banking platform Fabrick, tells Ellie Duncan how Fabrick is helping companies and large corporates to embed financial services in their customer journeys, as embedded finance takes off. He explains what a €40 million fundraise led by Mastercard and other investors means for Fabrick, and reveals the company’s European expansion plans, given its recent acquisition of finAPI. Finally, Paolo discusses the fintech landscape in Southern Europe and what is behind a drop in investment levels.

In this special episode of Open Banking Expo Unplugged for the Women in Open Banking initiative, Ellie Duncan is joined by Pauline Nicol, payments partnerships manager, payments and Open Banking at Tesco Bank, and co-founder and director of the Saorsa Menopause Consultancy. The menopause has gone from being a taboo subject to a talked-about topic, both at home and in the workplace, but it is still widely misunderstood. Pauline explains why she and her colleague set up ‘Hot at Tesco’ and the support it provided to colleagues experiencing menopause symptoms, and why it is vital that employers offer support and guidance to female employees going through the perimenopause and menopause. She also reveals the tools and resources available to women and those who want to support their partners, colleagues and parents going through the menopause.