Thought Leadership

Open Banking Expo 2024 – event round-up

18 October 2024

If it’s October, it must be Open Banking Expo. According to the organisers, 2024 was the biggest show so far, with more than 1,500 people attending the two-day event and footprint up 30 per cent from last year. It had also moved to take up more space at the Business Design Centre, to reflect its expansion into three shows: Open Banking, Open Finance and Smart Data.

The OBL team was, as always, there in force to take part in several of the panels and to meet with the ecosystem, regulators and fintech industry colleagues from the UK and overseas.

Clearly, 2024 has been a pivotal year for both OBL and open banking, with the CMA Roadmap coming to an end, and with all eyes clearly focused on both the future entity, and the future expansion of the industry.

This was reflected in many of the panel discussions and in conversations on the floor. We sum up some of the key themes below:

Regulation

Both David Geale, Interim Managing Director at the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), and Matthew Long, Director, Payments & Digital Assets at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), acknowledged the work of the previous six years in laying the foundations for open banking, and the collaboration that has enabled this.

David highlighted that the adoption base is already in place and that “we are encouraged by industry co-operation and the progression of non-Order work”, while Matthew pointed outthe importance of a permanent regulatory footing to continue the work in delivering a public good and that: “Consumers’ lives are getting better, and markets are getting better.”

Payments

In the first Powerhouse Debate, Driving payments modernisation in an Open Banking era, Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance, highlighted the need for a “specific plan, next steps and priorities” to move the industry, which is potentially worth £328bn to the UK economy, forward. She cited the importance of the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill to enable this, and that it needs to include an element of digital ID.

Charlotte Crosswell, Chair of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), agreed that we need to remove the gridlock, adding that it is important to recognise that payments and data are inextricably linked.

Payments are driving data. It’s about what payments can do for data and what data can do for payments.”

Charlotte Crosswell, Chair of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT)

She pointed out that there needs to be a clear value exchange for consumers for the data that they give away, and urged the industry not to wait for the stars to align before moving forward.

This sentiment was echoed by Andy Sacre, Head of Payments at Monzo, who suggested that the industry just needs to get on with solving customer problems, saying: “It’s about putting the customer back in the driving seat.” He pointed out that Monzo customers can now see their mortgage information in their app, and that the pensions industry shouldn’t wait for the Pensions Dashboard to be delivered to do the same.

National Payments Vision

Jana Mackintosh, Managing Director for Payments and Innovation at UK Finance, outlined the organisation’s vision for the UK’s payments infrastructure and the need for regulatory certainty, stronger public-private partnerships, and strong delivery capabilities.

She welcomed the Bank of England’s discussion paper on payments infrastructure, and proposed a public-private partnership led by the Bank of England to drive necessary changes to the payments infrastructure and to enable the execution of the National Payments Vision. 

She also highlighted that the Government’s new Industrial Strategy Green Paper aims to provide a 10-year plan for high-growth sectors, which includes key roles for the digital economy and financial services. 

Variable recurring payments (VRPs)

VRPs are always a hot topic at Expo, and with VRPs for sweeping (me-to-me payments) now delivered by all the CMA9, the conversation has moved on to non-sweeping commercial VRPs (cVRPs) (me-to-business payments).

With the growth of real-time payments across the globe, cVRPs could be a real gamechanger, putting customers in control of their payments, and letting them benefit from a faster, easier, more cost effective way to pay for goods and services.

Token launched its Annual survey on VRPs and the future of payments, which revealed that 79% of banks believe cVRPs will be beneficial to the overall UK payments ecosystem and that the vast majority of banks also believe cVRPs will provide benefits to their consumer account-holders. It also highlighted, however, that one of the top industry concerns is the lack of a customer protection framework.  

OBL CEO Henk Van Hulle pointed out that OBL is working with the industry to build on the VRP blueprint and UK Finance model clauses work, to set the rules and requirements for cVRPs and develop a multilateral agreement (MLA), which will cover liabilities, dispute management, consumer protection and eventually the commercial model.  He said the organisation anticipates publishing a draft MLA for consultation early 2025.

Fraud and consumer protection

Consumer protection, fraud, and the importance of trust were recurrent themes at the show – the idea of an ‘acceptance mark’ was discussed by some experts, while Innovate Finance’s Janine Hirt called for fraud to be “attacked at source”. With fraud costing the UK economy £1.3bn annually, the industry needs to take the lead on tackling it holistically.

Moving to a smart data economy

Conservative peer Lord Holmes delivered a keynote speech on the vision for a Smart Data economy. He emphasised the societal and economic impact of a truly data-driven society, and the importance of collaboration in achieving an inclusive system that is fairer for all. He also cited the benefits of bringing open banking to the public sector, with HMRC collecting £30bn in tax payments and £13bn in NS&I savings payments through open banking.

He said: “The real power, the real change to individuals’ lives, will only come if we all work together, to connect, to collaborate, to co-create.”

A smart data economy [will be] good for our communities, good for our cities, good for our country, good for our interconnected world, and in short – justice – it’s our data, our decisions.”

Kevin Hollinrake MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade

A panel then followed on the Government’s Digital Information and Smart Data Bill. Panellists were in agreement on the importance of defining clear, compelling use cases that will push the agenda forward. Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kevin Hollinrake MP, and the Department for Business and Trade’s Head of Smart Data, Agnieszka Scott, both urged the audience to respond to the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper.

Kevin commented: “You need a coalition of people as broad as possible to support the use cases, and keep banging on [the Government’s] door until it happens. Go and tell them what you need.”

Conclusion

OBL CEO Henk Van Hulle delivered a closing keynote speech and took the opportunity to share the latest user, payment and API data, all of which continues to grow.

  • Total users are at 11.16m
  • Total payments are at 20m
  • VRPs account for 2.75m of these payments
  • Monthly API calls are now 1.603 billion monthly

He then went on to comment on the way ahead: “All eyes are now on the future as we look to transition to a future entity that creates a pathway beyond open banking to open finance and smart data… the three main themes of this year’s OB Expo.”

What has been apparent in many of the panel discussions is that markets can move while we wait for legislation and regulatory decisions, and all the ecosystem players are testament to that. So let’s keep the momentum going at this pivotal time.

Henk Van Hulle, OBL CEO

“Keep on innovating and continue to deliver the best outcomes for consumers, citizens, businesses and make the UK a better society and economy.”