Blossoming use cases, such as the UK Pensions Dashboards Programme, will ensure that Open Finance is here to stay, experts claim.
Speaking at the 2022 Open Banking Expo Europe in Amsterdam, speakers addressed delegates about how collaboration and connectivity were now penetrating areas of finance way beyond banking with phenomenal success.
Discussing Moneyhub’s efforts, Simon Ripton, the firm’s director of proposition, showcased the company’s work in the UK pension market ahead of an upcoming launch.
“We’ve just created a product called Pension Finder,” he told delegates. “It allows people to consolidate and find lost pensions by connecting everything. We think it’s a really nice tool and it is a pre-curser to the work we’re doing within the wider pension industry.”
The UK government-backed Pensions Dashboards project is a prime example of how Open Finance can transform a traditional landscape. For years, savers have moved jobs and “lost” pension pots by forgetting where they have money saved.
Once implemented, the programme will allow users to see all of their pension pots (from multiple employers and savings providers) in once place.
“What we’re doing is working to provide a commercial dashboard overlay, which is really important, because having your data is one thing but creating this kind of pension journey is the really important bit,” Ripton explained.
Ripton also discussed how firms are developing products and solutions while remaining mindful of the developing regulatory agenda. Citing the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an example, he described how MoneyHub was working on future proofing solutions while keeping in mind the FCA’s Consumer Duty agenda which raises the expectations of financial businesses in terms of consumer, market and economic protections.
The continued development of Open Finance and the expansion of data verticals requires an operator/regulator collaboration, he said. This will ensure accessibility for those looking to enter, and continue, operations in the Open Finance space and ensure they are able to keep pace with advancements.
Other panellists speaking at the event included Bertrand Jeannet, chief executive officer at Budget Insight, and Ghela Boskovich, head of Europe for the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA), with the panel being moderated by Maximilian Czymoch, chief executive officer and co-founder of Mistho.
Boskovich echoed previous calls for an Open Banking and Open Finance Europe-wide API standard, and the benefits that would likely be felt from the consistency and reliability that it could offer.
