UK Presses Further Ahead With Open Banking Ambitions

More countries around the world are following in the U.K.’s open banking footsteps, but now, the U.K. is ready to forge even further ahead with initiatives designed to spur financial service competition.

This week’s open banking roundup looks at those efforts, plus examines the latest tie-ups between banks and FinTechs that drive business banking modernization forward.

U.K. Preps For Next Phase Of Open Banking

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking to pave the way for the next phase of open banking in the market and has now launched a public consultation to explore the opportunity to establish an independent, nonprofit entity to accelerate development and adoption of open banking apps. According to Reuters, the watchdog effort aims to boost FinTech development and drive competition in the sector. Bank lobby group U.K. Finance has reportedly set forth a blueprint for such an entity, although the CMA is urging banks not to have an “inappropriate” influence over it.

“While the largest banks have shown signs of embracing open banking, they may also have an incentive to slow the further development of the open banking ecosystem, where this conflicts with their own commercial objectives,” the CMA said in a statement.

FreshBooks, Salt Edge Announce Open Banking Initiative

Open banking isn’t just for banks. Case-in-point: Small- to medium-sized business (SMB) accounting platform FreshBooks has announced a partnership with open banking technology firm Salt Edge to unlock its small businesses’ bank and other financial data via open banking. Salt Edge will provide its bank data aggregation service, allowing FreshBooks to automatically manage finances by linking their EU bank and credit accounts to the portal.

“As open banking spreads further into the financial services market for [SMBs], tech-forward accounting platforms are taking advantage,” said Salt Edge Head of Business Development Lisa Gutu in a statement.

Payrailz Leads Alliant CU Payment Digitization

Alliant Credit Union is tapping into Payrailz to digitize its payments offering, according to a press release. The release noted Payrailz will be powering the credit union’s (CU’s) new digital payment platforms, positioning the financial institution (FI) — Illinois’s largest CU — to compete with agile FinTechs. Customers today demand an all-digital experience, and Alliant said it wants its payments offering to match its digitized business model. The CU does not operate physical branches, but rather allows customers to access products and services entirely online.

Canadian Western Bank, Temenos Collaborate For SMBs

With a focus on SMBs, Canadian Western Bank is rolling out a digital banking solution, and it is turning to banking software firm Temenos to power the offering. Temenos said the collaboration with the bank will integrate Temenos’s Virtual COO technology. The tool is built on the company’s digital banking platform that connects SMBs to a variety of financial management features, including business scenario forecasting and planning, and real-time cash management through a consolidation of bank and other financial data.

DueDil Connects FIs To RegTech

DueDil, a regulation technology (RegTech) company, has announced the rollout of a partnership program designed to help financial service and insurance providers to access rich data about their SMB customers. Through the program, DueDil will connect its partners, including banks, to its technology that includes Continuous Updates, its real-time SMB monitoring solution. DueDil noted the program aims to connect entities to valuable data for a range of use cases, including know your business (KYB) checks.

Citadele Adopts nCino’s Bank Technology

Natvia-based Citadele Bank will be adopting nCino’s Bank Operating System as part of its modernization push, the organizations announced, with the FI using nCino technology to bolster its corporate loan operations, according to a press release. The bank noted that it is looking to improve corporate loan application processing, as well as to introduce enhancements to its overall corporate banking offering. Through nCino, Citadele will replace existing, legacy infrastructure to boost efficiency and digitize its back office in an effort to improve corporate and SMB customer experiences.

“The nCino platform will provide us with the valuable next step in our Corporate and [SMB] banking transformation as we look to further execute on our digital strategy in the Baltics,” Chief Strategy Officer and Member of the Management Board Vladislavs Mironovs said in a statement.