Marking three years of open banking in Europe, TrueLayer’s handy guide outlines both proven and emerging use cases.
Much of the report focuses on proven cases – drawn from TrueLayer’s own API calls – split into three categories:
- Using open banking for smart onboarding offers a big step forward in customer experience. The report also points out the advantages for regulated sectors, and the added benefits of having verified income and affordability data.
- Personal financial management use cases include financial dashboards (aggregation), smart budgeting and auto-saving.
- For SMEs, use cases again include aggregation and affordability checks, along with accounts automation.
For emerging use cases, the report looks first at data insights – and the potential for personalisation with services such as loyalty/rewards – before going on to address instant payments. TrueLayer’s own data shows dramatic growth in this during lockdown, surely a trend that’s set to continue. Both account funding (for wealth management and other services) and one-off payments are covered.
Finally, the report points out the power of combining use cases and the extra potential as we move towards open finance, before finishing with a nod towards embedded finance.
In such a fast-moving market, it is perhaps inevitable that a guide like this will date quickly. On the day of review alone, the UK’s OBIE starting a consultation on recurring payments and sweeping, and FDX took a step forward with US tax accounts standardisation.
That said, the report offers a useful snapshot of the state of play and a helpful framework for thinking about use cases – along with a good selection of the fintechs that are helping open banking start to fulfil its promise. Well worth reading it soon!