Our ecosystem
James Hickman,
Chief Commercial Officer, Ecospend
Q.
How can open banking payments offer cost savings to public sector organisations – HMRC, other government departments, councils and housing associations?
Last year we saw millions of transactions and billions of pounds across all Ecospend and Trustly merchants. This includes HMRC and National Savings & Investment (NS&I) which are still setting the pace and are among the world’s biggest use cases.
So it’s exciting to see His Majesty’s Government lead the world in account-to-account innovation. The New Year will start with a bang and more records will tumble as unprecedented numbers of UK taxpayers experience Ecospend for the first time to pay their self-assessment tax. We are also primed to see some game-changing account information services (AIS) products hit the mass market.
Meanwhile the Crown Commercial Service’s open banking dynamic purchasing system will help many other government departments to access the efficiency and cost savings our industry has to offer. It’s going to be a busy year!”
Fliss Berridge,
Co-Founder, Ordo
Q.
Will 2024 be the year variable recurring payments (VRPs) take off?
“It certainly feels that way at Ordo. We were engaged in much JROC activity last summer, demonstrating active involvement in unlocking the next phase of open banking. With VRP services such as ours, and others in the market, already live and kicking for sweeping, all that any innovative fintechs need now is fuller bank API access.
The Payment Systems Regulator’s (PSR’s) interim report into card fees, published recently, proposed caps on credit and debit card interchange fees – demonstrating that an alternative of full-throttle open banking has never been more needed.
JROC, and PSR comments in particular, have been realistic and positive and there is a clear desire to do what it takes to catalyse a sustainable model for open banking innovators.
Throughout the JROC committee and blueprint drafting stages, the regulators have stated they want a pilot of premium APIs for VRPs, live by 1 July 2024 - Ordo, for one, is ready and waiting with all engines blazing!”
Stephen Wright,
Head of Regulation and Standards, Bank of APIs, NatWest
Q.
Is the UK on track to see the successful evolution of open banking to open finance? What is needed from the industry and government to support that evolution?
“The prominence of open banking in the Autumn Statement and Future of Payments Review, along with the commitment His Majesty's Treasury has made to legislate to unlock open banking-enabled payments and the need for a sustainable commercial model is very much welcomed.
This needs to be joined up with the DPDI Bill to create a sustainable regulatory framework for open finance that aligns incentives to support innovation and competition in new journeys and use cases benefiting consumers and businesses.
Without a clear vision and roadmap for the next two years, involving industry, regulators, and government, there is the risk that the evolution to open finance and unlocking of open banking payments will be delayed due to paralysis, low collaboration and lack of market investment.
The Government must provide the industry with a clear vision for the future and encourage better collaboration between all parties to accelerate innovation and competition in order to deliver consumer and business-focused offerings and retain trust.
This will require a sustainable and equitable commercial model through which the technology and necessary consumer protections will be developed, and with appropriate regulatory backstops.”