Equifax Forms Open Banking Alliance With consents.online

Equifax, the consumer and business insights expert, has formed a strategic alliance with consents.online, a digital consent management and AISP-accredited open banking platform.

In a press release, Equifax said that the partnership marks the first time that U.K. consumers and small businesses can manage the sharing of their financial information. The company noted that the alliance was established to develop solutions for the U.K.’s open banking initiative, which gives online banking customers the ability to share their financial data with FinTechs. Equifax added that the partnership enables consumers and small businesses to provide consent to organizations to access financial data.

“The vision for open banking is to enable people to unlock the power of their data to make the most of their money, giving them more transparency, control, security and access to help,” said Jake Ranson, banking and financial institution expert and CMO at Equifax. “This can be achieved when the extensive data Equifax already holds is harmonized with bank transaction data. Our detailed evaluation identified consents.online as the stand-out candidate to make this a reality, thanks to its long history and deep expertise in working with transaction data globally.”

Through the consents.online app and website, customers have full visibility into all permissions granted and for what purpose, and they can allow access to be revoked, paused or extended at any time, Equifax said. The company is also working with consents.online’s data analytics platform, AccountScore, which specializes in transaction data analytics for consumer and business lending.

“We’re delighted to enter into a partnership with Equifax, which creates significant benefits for mutual clients through the combined product offering,” Emma Steeley, commercial director at consents.online, said in the same press release. “We have found the Equifax team has a relentless focus on driving value for clients using a combination of intellectual rigor and a best-in-class product set. Together with them, we can provide the infrastructure, tools and control to deliver the full-service, real-time solutions that financial service providers require.”