From Open Banking to Open Data, the panel at Innovate Finance Global Summit

From Open Banking to Open Data: The High Speed Race to Success. My thoughts on the panel at Innovate Finance Global Summit 2023.

Last Monday I had the opportunity to talk about Open Banking’s incredible progress and the bright future that lies ahead for open data at the Innovate Finance Global Summit, in the stately Guildhall. It was a pleasure to join Kunal Jhanji, Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group, Prof Markos Zachariadis, Professor, Alliance Manchester Business School, Alastair Douglas, CEO of Totally Money, and Richard Fenner, Director of Government Relations Euroclear. 

Plaid is a global leader in open banking by building the technical connections to foster data exchanges between institutions like banks and third party fintechs. Now with the rise of open data, we are seeing a new wave of innovation that goes beyond bank data, bringing together data from various sectors to create new products and services that can transform industries and improve people's lives.

Panels like this one are key to helping the industry move forward. Discussing this topic with leaders and experts helped shape my thoughts on how we take open data from a concept into reality.

My key takeaways: 

• Common (high-quality) standards will be paramount in making sure that open data leverages all of the progress the industry has made with open banking. The UK has been a pioneer in setting strong standards for open banking and this has translated into some of (if not) the best open banking experiences for end users and third parties, and we would like to see similar standards applied across different sectors.

• Data security is not only massively important for regulatory reasons, but also critical in building trust with end users. They will only continue to adopt open banking (and eventually open data) if they feel their data is safe and secure.

• Education will be a powerful tool in unlocking open data’s potential. People don’t understand what open banking is, yet alone open data. This is a huge barrier for both the companies that could be leveraging the data as well as the end users who could be benefiting from its use.

The recent JROC report released last Monday is a leap forward in the right direction. It sets the possible path and direction and has shown the potential. But it needs to be accelerated to learn quickly to deliver the best value for end users. We are all responsible for driving this forward. We know open data will change millions of people’s lives for the better, so why wait?