Open banking

What is considered a payment account under PSD2 and what isn’t? Seems like a simple question, right? But, as with most topics in the finance industry, the answer is almost always ‘well, it depends…

In our new report ‘open banking in a post-pandemic world’ 41% of Europe’s financial executives believe the digital shift caused by Covid is permanent – with over two thirds saying the pandemic has increased their focus on open banking.

Sustainability is an important part of our lives. Tackling climate change and building a service that allows consumers to easily view, track, and reduce their climate impact is exactly what Qliro and Deedster set out to accomplish. Here's how they're using open banking to do it.

Find out how the lending industry can benefit from open banking, and how they can leverage new tech capabilities to improve the user experience, reduce costs, increase operational efficiency and optimise results.

Tink and Wealthify are partnering for open banking payments to transform how Wealthify investors transfer money into their accounts, providing a seamless, faster and more cost-effective payment experience.

Find out how Sigmastocks is simplifying investments, and how open banking is helping them streamline their account verification to speed up customer onboarding.

Many of the acronyms used in open banking were introduced in connection with PSD2, and they can be a little confusing. This means it’s important to explain them, otherwise, people might have a hard time following you.

Variable Recurring Payments is a hot topic in open banking, and many believe it could change the face of consumer payments as we know them. Here’s an overview of how it works – and why it’s such a powerful contender in the payments space.

SCA stands for Strong Customer Authentication, and it’s a regulatory requirement introduced in connection to PSD2. Here’s a basic summary of what a ‘strong’ authentication process can look like – and why it’s important.

Open banking is becoming a crucial tool in the fight to reduce carbon footprint. By plugging open banking tech into digital services, individuals and businesses can track and change their behaviour in a meaningful way. Here’s how.

The latest EBA Opinion calls for the removal of obstacles that obstruct TPP’s access to accounts for open banking services. Here’s our take on the most important bits of the Opinion, and what it means for banks and TPPs alike.

We interviewed Matteo Concas, Head of Global Digital Banking Solutions at Enel X. Here’s why one of the largest energy companies in Europe is looking to financial services – and open banking – to bring more value to their customers.

Gone are the days when banks and fintechs battled for the financial services crown, as collaboration proves king. Tink’s Rafa Plantier takes a look at how banks and fintechs have worked out they’re better together.

With new possibilities brought on by open banking, banks need to overcome internal challenges to beat the race to deliver the best possible customer experience. Here are three key steps to taking advantage of this opportunity.

Greenly is the force behind 2.5 million French people measuring their carbon footprint – and improving it. Now with Tink, Greenly is set on taking its app across Europe, and putting banks at the centre of its plans to help shift behaviour.

A whopping 70% of C-level executives see the opportunities of open banking, while just 45% of product owners agree. Tink’s latest research report dives into the task banks face aligning their organisations to make the most of open banking.

Find out how Swedish startup Avy is upgrading the renting experience for property owners and tenants by putting real people at the centre of real estate – and how Tink is helping improve one of the cornerstones of their product.

When it comes to the top open banking opportunities, not all countries see eye-to-eye. Here are the open banking use cases being prioritised in five different markets – and the differences between them.

Not sure what open banking APIs are, and getting tired of hearing about them all the time? We’re looking past the technicalities and explaining the term in plain English.

We’re always on about how great open banking is, and how it’s ramping up innovation and competition in the financial services industry. But what is it, exactly? And why does it matter? Here’s a (very simple) rundown.

The news is out. We’re teaming up with Lydia as its open banking technology partner across Europe, to streamline the app’s bank connectivity and create new services for millions of  customers.

To stay ahead of the curve and master the open banking transformation, bankers need to start looking beyond compliance, and be smart about where to invest.

We interviewed Michael Anseeuw, Head of Retail Banking and long-time open banking evangelist at BNP Paribas Fortis. Here’s what he had to share about the challenges of being an early adopter, and his vision for a customer-centric approach.

We’re partnering with Enel X Financial Services to take digital money management to millions of its customers. Through engaging tools and personalised advice, its customers can make smarter financial decisions.

Our newly released survey report takes a closer look at open banking use cases, and which opportunities financial executives across Europe are most anticipating. Get to know more about the top five picks.

From an expanding ecosystem, to improvements in APIs, and increased investment – open banking has come a long way since the PSD2 deadline in 2019. Here’s how we see the progress that’s been made, and where work still needs to be done.

It all started with a hackathon challenge, and ended with an app that uses open banking to help those financially impacted by the coronavirus. Here’s how sprovid is helping Norwegian tenants on temporary leave get discounts on their rent.

Rafael Plantier, Tink’s UK & Ireland Country Manager looks at how open banking technology can open the digital doors to financial services for many more people, while helping businesses operate more efficiently.

Find out how you can leverage access to financial data to solve different challenges throughout your customer journey – from the first steps in the onboarding all the way through to a successful sale.

Tink’s series of local open banking reports lift the lid on the biggest open banking spenders in Europe, looking at who is expecting speedy returns on their investments, where innovation has boomed and whose spend has increased the most.

The barriers of operating across borders are coming down. Open banking is allowing any company, big or small, to take the same model and apply it to any country - slashing time-to-market, and creating vast opportunities for everyone.

The EBA has resolved some of the biggest questions in relation to PSD2 APIs, after documenting its opinion on the practices of banks and the obstacles caused. This is Tink’s summary of the most significant implications.

The financial services industry is on the verge of a monumental shift towards data-driven solutions. By going beyond compliance businesses can unlock new market opportunities and improve customer experiences at lower costs.

PayPal is making a second strategic investment in Tink, and together, their commercial agreement is extending across all countries in the EEA to continue the expansion of open banking technology.

Many companies lack a simple way of fetching real-time business account data. Not anymore. It can now be aggregated on the Tink platform, so you can instantly verify business accounts and their owners, check cash flow and more.

Open banking has taken the financial services industry by storm, with executives taking advantage of a new industry paradigm. But how is open banking investment shaping up across the continent? Here’s a spoiler - it’s massive, and growing.

We ventured once again into the minds of European bankers and found that financial institutions are making significant investments towards their open banking initiatives. But what’s driving them? Or what’s standing in the way?

It’s time for the industry to catch up with the first movers of open banking, but the end goal is not to meet regulation. It’s about increasing sales and productivity, and reducing risk - to get a return on your open banking investment.

Our new Regional Director for DACH has his sights set on making the financial actors in the region the stars of the open banking show - by helping them create the slick digital experiences people are beginning to expect.

The first report based on our survey of 290 senior executives and decision makers in the financial industry across Europe is out. Find out what the results reveal about how bankers are tackling the open banking opportunity.

Find out how Swedish company Kivra is providing a more user-friendly and friction-free payment solution – to simplify things for their customers, and their business.

Open banking is changing the way people interact with their finances, as more providers launch value added services that have a real impact on people’s lives. But to get people to adopt new services – especially when they require sharing personal data – you need a solid foundation of trust. Here’s why trust matters, and the four pillars that are needed to keep it in place.

Bank and fintech partnerships are booming as the shift in the financial industry is taking everyone in the same direction. But just like with any other relationship, a happily ever after is not always a given. We’ve previously shared tips from our own experience in building successful partnerships, but we were curious to get the bankers’ perspective. So we reached out to our partners at CGD for their take on it.

Leda Glyptis is a leading voice in banking from both the startup and the incumbent side. Way back at Money2020 in Amsterdam, we sat down with her to talk about this opportunity that is open banking and the big opportunities that it presents.

At the beginning of 2019, we set our sights on making the most of the opportunity that open banking is offering – a huge industry shift that is bringing about a new generation of financial services to market. Before we wrap up another year, we’re looking back at our own journey in 2019 and how it reflects this industry-wide transformation.

Rafael Plantier, our new UK & Ireland Country Manager, arrives at Tink with a motto: open banking is good only once people get to enjoy the fruits of their data. To make this a reality, our London-based recruit wants to seize the open banking opportunity — and give innovators in the UK the right tools for building data-driven services.

With the September PDS2 deadline now visible in our rearview mirror, what is the status of the bank APIs in Europe two months later? Well, we still face big challenges as an industry to make sure the technical environments improve. But what we’ve seen is an encouraging shift in terms of collaboration and cooperation with some of Europe’s biggest banks. 

Since before PSD2 became law, we have been working at a European level to advocate for the changes that are now becoming core to the open banking movement. And it’s because we see a future in which the banking and financial services industry takes a major leap into the future. Here’s the role we’ve played – and why it matters.

The financial industry has been standing at the precipice of this major shift. Some banks have taken the leap – innovative thinkers and leaders embracing the data revolution and using it to deliver amazing services. For those who’ve waited, now is your time – to take a leap, redefine how consumers manage their money and seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change banking for the better.

The results from Tink’s new UK survey report show that British bankers have a split opinion on the open banking movement, and unlike most other bankers across Europe, dealing with the new regulations is not a major concern for them. For respondents in the UK, ‘other incumbent banks’ came up as the single biggest threat brought by the open access to data.

Tink’s new report finds that financial executives in Germany are more likely to perceive the open banking movement as a threat rather than an opportunity, and indicates that they are not looking to explore new opportunities beyond the scope of PSD2 regulations for now. But they still understand the industry is in transformation (just like the German market), and are looking to partner with fintechs to tackle the journey ahead.

In our final analysis of PDS2 APIs, we’ve found that none are compliant with the PSD2 requirements and obligations – the same result we reported from our last evaluation in June. And with less than a month before the final deadline, it is the millions of banking customers across Europe who will suffer the consequences.

It has felt in recent months as if the entire industry is mobilised to meet next month’s final PSD2 deadline. But forgotten in all the talk of SCA requirements, fallbacks and EBA clarifications is the monumental human effort that is being made deep in the offices of third parties and banks to create and align on an entirely new way of working.

Ultimately, everyone involved in this march to September – banks and third parties alike – is in the business of meeting the needs of customers. And yet, they could be forgotten if the majority of banks’ PSD2 APIs continue to offer just one authentication flow – the dreaded web redirect. It’s a method that kills innovation, destroys the customer experience, and could threaten the success of this open banking movement in which we’ve all invested so heavily.

We raised the alarm bells earlier this month that the banks’ production APIs are far from ready – a reality that could threaten the services that millions of consumers enjoy. If they remain poor, then the success of PSD2 could hinge on a safety net that’s built into the regulation. But with no clarity around what this safety net should look like or how it will be applied, there is a real risk it won’t provide the security it was intended to.

We’ve seen our fair share of banking partners succeed in their efforts to build digital services that customers love, partner with fintechs to get the right tech, and becoming data-driven organisations. Taking all of those lessons, we’ve distilled them down into the three things you can do as a banker that will best equip you for the journey ahead.

A Tink analysis finds that none of the tested bank APIs released by the penultimate 14th June deadline meet the quality requirements laid out by PSD2 regulators – potentially creating a “cliff edge” scenario in September that compromises the financial services for millions of consumers.

The open banking movement is picking up steam – and we’re seeing an uptick in companies launching “open banking platforms”. But without defining what this really means, it’s impossible to make a like-for-like comparison. So we’re stripping away the term – and giving you a checklist with the criteria that really matters when evaluating a tech partner.

Over three days in early June, the best and brightest decision makers in the industry met at Money20/20 to discuss the biggest transformation in decades. We had substantive conversations about the future of open banking in the pink booth – and took the stage to share our vision.

This is the final piece in a three-part series: Inside the minds of Europe’s bankers. We conducted an open banking survey, querying nearly 270 European financial executives on how they see the movement, the regulations and the future. This is the last of the three major conclusions we’ve made after analysing the data.

Today is the deadline for all banks to have their production APIs ready, and the first day for all third parties to officially start integrating with them. But having spent the last three months rigorously testing more than 100 bank APIs in their sandbox environments, we can conclude this: the APIs available up to now are far from ready, lacking the quality and maturity they need – offering a sobering preview of the condition of the production APIs due out today.

This is the second piece in a three-part series: Inside the minds of Europe’s bankers. We conducted an open banking survey, querying nearly 270 European financial executives on how they see the movement, the regulations and the future. This is the second of the three major conclusions we’ve made after analysing the data.

This is the first piece in a three-part series: Inside the minds of Europe’s bankers. We conducted a survey on the subject of open banking, querying nearly 270 European financial executives on how they see the movement, the regulations and the future. This is the first of the three major conclusions we’ve made after analysing the data.

This is the second piece in our ongoing series called Tink Thinks: Inside the EBA, where we explain and comment on the business of the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) PSD2 API Working group, which is helping to ease the implementation process ahead of the September deadline.

By Tomas Prochazka and Ralf Ohlhausen

Meet Tink’s new senior adviser and investor: Christian Clausen. He’s a veteran of the old guard of banking – a former CEO of Nordea and chairman of the European Banking Federation. He’s sharing his expertise and unique insight gained from years working with Europe’s biggest banks. And we’ve joined forces to help bankers seize the immense opportunity up for grabs as the industry shifts – and open the digital doors to their customers.

Now that banks can start to look beyond the huge task of being regulation ready, everyone’s attention is turning to what’s next. Which is how to get the most out of the open banking opportunity. But if banks want to stay ahead of the emerging competition, the time to act is now.

One of the two biggest PSD2 deadlines just whizzed by on 14 March without much fanfare – and more importantly – without the compliance of 41% of the European banks we surveyed in 10 markets. Many will point fingers at those who failed to comply. But what it really highlights is that despite deep pockets and plenty of resources, the demands that PSD2 places on banks are monumental.

This is the first piece in our ongoing series called Tink Thinks, where we explain and comment on the business of the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) PSD2 API working group, which is helping to ease the implementation process ahead of the September deadline.

Australia is known for many things, including its natural wonders, and (potentially daunting) wildlife. In the fintech world, it will also soon be known for its own version of open banking. One that is inspired by Europe, but with an Aussie twist.

When it comes to open banking, behavioural finance expert Galina Andreeva is a staunch supporter. But she cautions that the opportunities it presents come with their own risks – and to offer the best service, banks need to understand their customers better than ever before.

Leda Glyptis can empathise with the banks. She’s a recovering banker herself. At a time when the incumbents are choosing to embrace this era of open banking – albeit slowly – the chief of staff at challenger consultancy 11:FS lays out the three choices they can make in order to make money and move their business forward.

A year of sprinting and scaling has put 2018 in the books as Tink’s best year yet. We’re sharing our journey – proud of what we’ve achieved in three major areas, and excited for even bigger growth in 2019.

We sat down with payments and PSD2 expert from the Bank of Ireland, Julie Connor, to discuss the opportunities of open banking and the strengths of standardisation.

The financial services industry in Europe is at a crossroad. Regulators have decided to open the floodgates to competition by introducing the concept of open banking. Although Europe is progressive when it comes to regulations, implementation can be complex. Now the world is watching to see how new regulations affect the financial industry in Europe.

Much like Tink, the trustee for the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) has big visions for the future of data-driven banking. He says it’s only a matter of time until the full scope of customer data is available for fintechs to use to build innovative new products.

Tink conversed, connected and listened at this year’s Amsterdam conference. And here’s what we learned about the major leaps the banking industry is taking in this era of open banking.

With the introduction of PSD2 (the second Payment Services Directive), we are now entering a new era of open banking. At the customer’s request, EU member states will be forced to open up their customer data and payments infrastructure to third-party providers.

Until now, banks have occupied a privileged space. They have operated in a market that has handed them a monopoly over their customers’ data and discouraged competition and innovation. This is about to change as we are entering the era of open banking.

Anyone who thinks that a mobile banking app is simply a place where people interact with their own bank should think again. Banking is becoming a concierge service, providing consumers with an overview of all their finances, regardless of who they ‘bank’ with in the traditional sense.