As we reported in July, the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) was set up by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in the wake of its Retail Banking Markets Investigation report (August 2016). This report, inter alia, required the 9 largest banks in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the CMA9) to collectively establish an Implementation Entity through which they would adopt and maintain common API standards.

The OBIE has now been asked by Her Majesty’s Treasury and the CMA9 to create open banking standards for all payment account types covered by the European Union’s second Payments Services Directive (PSD2). Customers using e-wallets, credit cards and prepaid cards will also be able to take advantage of open banking services.

Imran Gulamhuseinwala, Trustee of the Open Banking Implementation Entity, said:

“This is a truly innovative project and the UK is leading the world in opening up the banking system to new services and, ultimately, re-shaping it around the customer.

Key to any innovation is the process of discovery and it became clear through the second half of 2017 that there is much more the OBIE could do to drive adoption of Open Banking and create a richer environment for new services.  These enhancements should give even greater confidence to the FinTech community to seize the opportunity to participate fully in the financial services ecosystem.

They will create standards for future dated, recurring and international payments as well as all the payment and product types covered by PSD2. These enhancements will maximise the benefits of open banking services for the customer. The OBIE will continue to work with the CMA, HMT, CMA9 and other stakeholders to drive this forward.”