By Cameron Abbott and Harry Crawford
With 2017 at a close, US banks have set out their 2018 FinTech new year resolutions. According to American Banker, US banks are likely to focus their FinTech investment in 4 major areas in 2018:
By Jim Bulling, Michelle Chasser and Edwin Tan
The Australian Government has announced its intention to mandate that ADIs provide open access to customer and small business data with a commencement date still to be determined. Treasury has been tasked with undertaking a review of the proposals put forward by the Productivity Commission, and is due to report back to the Government by the end of 2017 as to its recommendations on implementation of the proposals and recommended timeframe.
While everyone is excited about the benefits that will flow from open banking, there have been concerns raised about the security and privacy risks raised by an open banking regime. In relation to privacy, the Productivity Commission has suggested that the solution is to amend the existing Privacy Act to include a new class of protected information known as “consumer data”. However there are significant gaps in the existing Privacy Act that would pose real problems in connection with the protection of customer data. For instance, the Australian Privacy Principles do not apply to small businesses with turnover of less than $3.0m and this may exempt many FinTech players from any privacy obligations.
By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser
The Australian Treasury has announced an independent review into open banking in Australia. Open banking will require banks to share product and customer data with customers and third parties with the consent of the customer. The Government previously announced that the open banking regime would be introduced in 2018 to help customers seek more suitable products and increase competition.
The Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation, ING, is returning to the UK by launching a mobile app to help customers manage their money across multiple accounts. Last week ING unveiled Yolt, an app that aggregates data from accounts at different financial institutions, with their customers’ approval. As ING does not provide loans or take deposits in the UK, its new app will only include information on accounts held at other banks and credit card companies. It is one of the UK’s first examples of a bank providing a platform for customers to manage money held by rivals.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority called in August 2016 for high-street banks to adopt a digital standard called “open banking” by 2018. This will allow customers, if they agree, to have their account details and transaction history shared with third parties. For more details on the CMA report, click here.
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