Our Open Finance Coalition Progress Update
We are proud to have published our Progress Update for CFIT’s inaugural Open Finance Coalition, capturing what our group of over 50 industry experts has so far discovered and accomplished together. In early 2024, CFIT’s Final Report will build on these initial findings and set out a strategy for the UK to lead the way in delivering Open Finance.
By Ezechi Britton MBE, CEO, Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT)
Click here to read the Progress Update
The race is on across the world to unlock the next wave of financial innovation and to give people greater control over their financial lives.
There is clear evidence that the UK can lead this revolution – and Open Finance is the starting point. By putting financial data in the hands of consumers and small businesses, Open Finance will open up access to credit; allow financial services and fintech companies to develop improved, more affordable financial products across other areas such as savings, insurance and investments; and ultimately enable people to make better financial choices.
Earlier this year, we launched our first Coalition of over 50 leading organisations across financial services and fintech, collaborating with them on the mission to uncover key barriers to the implementation of Open Finance and map out actionable solutions. Six months later, our Coalition’s Progress Update lays out the tangible challenges and opportunities that it has identified so far.
Most evidently, Britain’s consumers and small businesses are struggling to organise their finances because the products they use are scattered and their financial information is hard to access. Data holds the key to giving people control of their finances and providing them with the most suitable products and services, which they need to organise their lives and prosper.
As our Progress Update highlights, this task is particularly important during the cost-of-living crisis. When many households and businesses are fighting to stay afloat, they need the best information and financial services they can get. This makes it even more integral that we find a way of giving them control of their data, by opening up additional financial and non-financial datasets that have remained either inaccessible or underutilised up until this point.
Open Finance will have broader economic benefits, too. By freeing up funding for the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to expand and thrive, the Open Finance revolution can help drive the government’s push for improved economic growth and productivity.
The UK’s fintech sector is a world leader and a source of growth in its own right. From what our Coalition has established so far, it is clear that we need to take a lead on Open Finance to maintain Britain’s position at the top of the global fintech industry, especially against competition from other markets, interested in emulating our success.
Open Finance is the gateway to a smart data society that puts even greater power in the hands of consumers, enabling further financial innovation and growth prospects for the UK fintech sector. It is ultimately good for people, good for growth and good for our vibrant fintech industry – and a key area in which Britain can demonstrate real strategic leadership.
At the time of publishing this Progress Update, I would like to thank all the organisations that have given their time and provided insights for this valuable work so far. I would also like to warmly welcome some of the newer members of our Coalition, who will play a key role in shaping our final output in the next few months, as well as supporting the rollout of Open Finance in the months and years beyond this.
Our final report in early 2024 will showcase the transformative impact of Open Finance in detail and include a plan for its roll-out across the UK. After that, we will work with industry and stakeholders to take the revolution forward.
Click here to read the Progress Update
Please follow our channels for updates on the Final Report of the Open Finance Coalition, which will be published in early 2024.
