US and UK Open Banking Swells Up In Consumers 🚀❤️

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The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will move forward this week with an "open banking" rule that could dramatically boost competition in the consumer finance industry and increase Americans' access to financial services.

The agency will release a discussion guide this week for small businesses to weigh in on the proposed rule, with the goal of formally proposing a rule in 2023 and finalizing it in 2024, Chopra told a fintech conference in Las Vegas.

In the UK, the number of consumers and SMEs actively using open banking powered services in the UK has reached seven million for the first time.

User numbers are reported to oversight entity Open Banking Limited (OBL) by the CMA9, the banks and building society mandated by the Competition and Markets Authority to implement open banking in the UK, and numbers for January show that the combined figure tipped seven million.

The upward trend comes just one month after the completion of the CMA Roadmap and the 5th anniversary of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which made open banking a regulatory requirement in the UK.

Henk Van Hulle, chief executive officer of OBL, says: “I am delighted that we have now reached 7 million active open banking users in the UK. It is significant that 1.2 million of these are first-time users. From access to cost-effective credit, building a regular savings habit or making more informed financial decisions - open banking is delivering the means for our citizens to improve their financial wellbeing.”

The positive spin put on the numbers contrasts with the downbeat tone adopted by outgoing OBL trustee Charlotte Crosswell when she handed in her end of term report earlier this month. Crosswell noted that while open banking has demonstrated its effectiveness, it is still only used by three in 20 digitally active UK adults and that Account Information Services users has stalled.

She said that one of the impediments to progress has been the absence of a clear vison for developing the UK into a Smart Data economy, where people and businesses have rights to access their data, wherever it may be held.