Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan caught up with two of our Women in Open Banking members who were matched in our mentoring scheme to find out what they initially sought from mentoring and what they’ve both gained from the scheme. Surbhi Sharma, senior manager at American Express, reveals how her own experiences of being mentored spurred her on to become a mentor. Meanwhile, Davinia Collins, senior legal counsel at Zepz, explains why the pair have adopted a more informal structure to their mentoring sessions. Davinia and Surbhi also offer some words of encouragement for those considering signing up to the next cohort.

Ellie Duncan is joined on this episode by Olga Karablina, head of payment product development and financial partnerships at Ecommpay and Katharina Luschnik, vice president, head of payments solutions sales at Mastercard Open Banking – Europe. They discuss what businesses need to prioritise in considering which Open Banking payments provider they want to work with, including coverage, functionality and provider types. Olga and Katharina also highlight the pitfalls to avoid along the way.

In this episode, Tom Winterton, head of platform at InvestEngine, tells Ellie Duncan about how its instant payments partnership with TrueLayer came to fruition. He explains how InvestEngine is using variable recurring payments – the “latest iteration” of Open Banking technology – to help clients invest more easily and often, and why payments is a “natural” use case for investing. Finally, he addresses the lack of awareness of Open Banking in the investment industry, and what’s next for InvestEngine.

Saba Shariff, chief strategy, product and innovation officer at Symcor, joins Ellie Duncan to discuss the findings of the 2023 EY Open Banking Study, conducted in partnership with Symcor, which analyses trends in consumer data-sharing preferences. She explains what the research tells us about consumer trust, and SMBs’ motivations to share data.

Liz Crews and Marie Walker from Raidiam, which built and delivered the world’s first trust framework, join Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan on the podcast. They share some of Raidiam’s key learnings, having been involved in the creation of open ecosystems globally, including the key questions and considerations businesses need to address when creating their own data sharing ecosystem. Marie, in her role as open futurist, also reveals the big trends she is witnessing in Open Banking and Open Finance. Liz talks about what is so exciting about the Smart Data movement.

Merve Ferrero, chief strategy officer at UK-based digital bank Zopa, tells Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan about the company’s journey from peer-to-peer lender, to fully licensed bank. She reveals how Zopa has remained resilient in a tough environment, closing a £75 million fundraise earlier this year and making its first acquisition, with a deal to buy DivideBuy. She also reveals whether Zopa is on course to make any further M&A announcements this year.

Leda Glyptis, chief client officer at 10x Banking and author of ‘Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an industry in transition’ joins Ellie Duncan to discuss what is meant by transformation and why it is a genuine challenge or difficulty to overcome for many banks. She reveals how she made her own transition from penning regular columns, to writing a book – and if there is another title in the works. Finally, Leda explains why regulators are often the instigator of a lot of reform in banking, forcing banks to change and not at their own pace.

David Hooper, VP, Open Banking and payments consulting at CGI, joins Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to discuss Canada’s Open Banking and payments journey so far. He explains why Canada’s long-awaited Real-Time Rail and Open Finance will cross over eventually and how, when they do, they’ll drive value for Canadian consumers and SMBs. David also reveals why he wants to see dates and timeframes around the implementation of payment initiations and account portability in Canada.

What are the key elements that will enable trust in Canada’s Open Banking framework? In this episode, Symcor's head of new product development and corporate strategy Saba Shariff, along with Sarah Gowdy, VP, client engagement and innovation at Tangerine Bank and Faye Pang, country manager, Canada at Xero, delve into the key measures and standards for creating a trust framework for Open Banking, including data accreditation, liability and customer experience, emphasizing the crucial balance of security and agility that is necessary to foster innovation.

Marion King, chair and trustee of Open Banking Limited (OBL), joins Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to explain why, following the publication of JROC’s recommendations for the UK’s Open Banking regime, she sees the organisation operating as “a guardian of standards” as it transitions to a new entity or entities. King reveals why she decided to take the role at OBL at a “pivotal point” for Open Banking in the UK and how the organisation will absorb JROC’s roadmap deadlines to 2025. Finally, Marion discusses the potential to unlock more non-sweeping VRP use cases and why Open Banking is not a competition, but why it is about leadership.