Open Banking Expo 2022 in London: Event Summary

Open Banking Fair returned to the UK in 2022. Consisting of nine stages, over 40 sessions and more than 90 industry speakers, the event will host a large number of members of the financial community to discuss all things Open Banking.

At a time of economic and political turbulence in the UK, many leaders in the open banking industry came together to discuss how open banking can help. Topics discussed included the future of open banking and the challenges companies in the industry face before they can achieve their goals.

Todd ClydeCEO of signopened the conference in Business design center in London with his session: ‘Always one step ahead: Can Open Banking achieve that? Above payment experience?‘.

Clyde spoke about the steady growth and adoption of Open Banking in the UK: “Open Banking payments in the UK are growing at a consistent 10% month-on-month. This may seem slow from our perspective, but from a payments perspective, this is very rapid growth. There are over 6.5 million payments to the 17 brands alone CM 9 Banks that get done every month.”

He also commented on whether open banking is a threat or an opportunity for companies in the payment industry: “A threat if you do nothing. Middle [threat] if you just aggregate them. I think there’s a real opportunity if they actually roll out their own private label pay-by-bank capability.”

Open bank payments

Following that Daniel GlobersonHead of API Bank Natwest groupmoderated a discussion to continue the conversation about open banking payments, VRPs and sweeping.

• Charlotte bellCorporate and institutional open banking payment sales lead at northwestsaid, “Banks can now begin commercializing the APIs they have worked hard to present to third parties today.”
• mike manfinance director Williams Trading Supplies, offered a merchant’s point of view: “The closer we can get to the ‘Uber’ ‘get out of a cab’ or ‘get out of a mall’ experience and complete your transaction without a ride, the better.” If we can achieve that at a lower cost to the merchant, surely everyone but our friends Visas and MasterCard to win.”
• Karl ladiesChief Product Officer at sign, discussed the role of regulators in the industry: “We see for example in Australia where they are trying to move forward because they know the regulator will step in and force them to do so if they don’t take steps to actually move forward. The banks then found the commercial incentive to make this a better opportunity than when the regulator forces them to act.”

The future of open banking

A fireside chat, moderated by , took place on another stage Ellie Duncan, Editor-in-Chief of the Open Banking Expo. She spoke to Andy SacreProduct Director of Open Banking Decisioning and Analytics at a credit reporting company Equifaxon the subject: ‘The future of open banking – a world beyond simple credit decisions‘.

Sacre spoke of the need to raise awareness of the benefits of open banking: “I think the problem probably lies with all of us. What is debatable is that we need to communicate this to customers and people in a way that they understand it matters to them. Ask the question “Would you like to use Open Banking?”. You won’t get a decent answer for most people on the street.”

Open banking supports SMEs

Elsewhere, another panel moderated by Jamie LeachDomain lead for regulated data at cuscaldiscussed how open banking enables fintechs to better serve SMEs with a panel.

panel member Connie Castra Feijooa specialist in stakeholder engagement Open Banking Implementation Unit, said: “If our goal is to enable fintechs to better serve the SME market, there are many examples of products and services currently in operation that actually help SMEs become more productive, profitable and resilient to become. Especially in this crisis.

“For example, our latest study surveyed over 900 SMBs, and 84 percent of them agreed that open banking cloud accounting services help them boost performance for better insight into their business. We know that 50 percent of SMEs are currently using Open Banking. There is a lot to be done to make that happen.”

Meet the CEO

The fintech times‘ own journalist Tyler Pathe took to the CEO stage at the event. He talked to people like Gavin Shuker out Cardeo, Ola Atose out KoinKoin, Carlos Figueredo from open vector, Nilixa Devlukia of Open Finance Association and Catherine HerrlingCEO of FundingXChange.

Gavin Shuker spoke about what Cardeo can do for people amid the current economic climate in the UK: “In July of this year, credit card borrowing rose to its highest level in 17 years. Average interest rates are around 29 percent. We know from previous recessions that all these promotional periods are one of the biggest markers in the credit card industry… We’re trying to build a company that’s inherently socially responsible.”

Concluding the CEO phase, Katrin Herrling spoke on how adverse political and economic events in the UK have impacted the SME lending landscape. “Lenders won’t lend money to companies that you can’t predict with certainty will still be around 18 months from now…Financing options have become more limited and more expensive.”

Herrling continued, “Small businesses were in the eye of the storm; The real challenges are becoming very clear and we are very concerned about what 2023 will mean for the credit sector.”

The challenges of implementing CBDCs worldwide

A key topic that came up several times in the sessions was what the future holds for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) or not. This panel looked like insights:

• Nilixa DevlukiCEO of Open Finance Association
• Lee McNabbLead payment strategy NatWest
• Louise Murrayoperations manager at rail no
• Janna Patchaypolitical leadership at Digital Pound Foundation
• James PomeroyWorld Economist for HSBC

Pomeroy spoke about the potential future of CBDCs and how central banks are tackling the problem of integrating it into the lives of the masses: “What seems to be happening around the world is all these different central banks looking [at CBDCs] come up with a somewhat similar idea for different reasons. You will receive a central bank digital currency produced by the central bank and distributed to the public through partner banks. [As far as adoption is concerned] no one will notice.”

James also discussed the “endless” possibilities for interest rates should different central banks try to set them. While it is possible not to set interest rates, as with cash, he argued that the possibilities need to be discussed. He said that “a high interest rate would encourage quick spending and less saving. Central banks could set a 10 per cent interest rate on the first £1000 you hold, and then a negative 10 per cent rate on anything beyond that. This would ensure that people don’t have a lot of savings and are constantly spending with the income.”