Open Banking Expo Unplugged

Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan caught up with two of our Women in Open Banking members who were matched in our mentoring scheme to find out what they initially sought from mentoring and what they’ve both gained from the scheme. Surbhi Sharma, senior manager at American Express, reveals how her own experiences of being mentored spurred her on to become a mentor. Meanwhile, Davinia Collins, senior legal counsel at Zepz, explains why the pair have adopted a more informal structure to their mentoring sessions. Davinia and Surbhi also offer some words of encouragement for those considering signing up to the next cohort.

Ellie Duncan is joined on this episode by Olga Karablina, head of payment product development and financial partnerships at Ecommpay and Katharina Luschnik, vice president, head of payments solutions sales at Mastercard Open Banking – Europe. They discuss what businesses need to prioritise in considering which Open Banking payments provider they want to work with, including coverage, functionality and provider types. Olga and Katharina also highlight the pitfalls to avoid along the way.

In this episode, Tom Winterton, head of platform at InvestEngine, tells Ellie Duncan about how its instant payments partnership with TrueLayer came to fruition. He explains how InvestEngine is using variable recurring payments – the “latest iteration” of Open Banking technology – to help clients invest more easily and often, and why payments is a “natural” use case for investing. Finally, he addresses the lack of awareness of Open Banking in the investment industry, and what’s next for InvestEngine.

Saba Shariff, chief strategy, product and innovation officer at Symcor, joins Ellie Duncan to discuss the findings of the 2023 EY Open Banking Study, conducted in partnership with Symcor, which analyses trends in consumer data-sharing preferences. She explains what the research tells us about consumer trust, and SMBs’ motivations to share data.

Liz Crews and Marie Walker from Raidiam, which built and delivered the world’s first trust framework, join Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan on the podcast. They share some of Raidiam’s key learnings, having been involved in the creation of open ecosystems globally, including the key questions and considerations businesses need to address when creating their own data sharing ecosystem. Marie, in her role as open futurist, also reveals the big trends she is witnessing in Open Banking and Open Finance. Liz talks about what is so exciting about the Smart Data movement.

Merve Ferrero, chief strategy officer at UK-based digital bank Zopa, tells Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan about the company’s journey from peer-to-peer lender, to fully licensed bank. She reveals how Zopa has remained resilient in a tough environment, closing a £75 million fundraise earlier this year and making its first acquisition, with a deal to buy DivideBuy. She also reveals whether Zopa is on course to make any further M&A announcements this year.

Leda Glyptis, chief client officer at 10x Banking and author of ‘Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an industry in transition’ joins Ellie Duncan to discuss what is meant by transformation and why it is a genuine challenge or difficulty to overcome for many banks. She reveals how she made her own transition from penning regular columns, to writing a book – and if there is another title in the works. Finally, Leda explains why regulators are often the instigator of a lot of reform in banking, forcing banks to change and not at their own pace.

David Hooper, VP, Open Banking and payments consulting at CGI, joins Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to discuss Canada’s Open Banking and payments journey so far. He explains why Canada’s long-awaited Real-Time Rail and Open Finance will cross over eventually and how, when they do, they’ll drive value for Canadian consumers and SMBs. David also reveals why he wants to see dates and timeframes around the implementation of payment initiations and account portability in Canada.

What are the key elements that will enable trust in Canada’s Open Banking framework? In this episode, Symcor's head of new product development and corporate strategy Saba Shariff, along with Sarah Gowdy, VP, client engagement and innovation at Tangerine Bank and Faye Pang, country manager, Canada at Xero, delve into the key measures and standards for creating a trust framework for Open Banking, including data accreditation, liability and customer experience, emphasizing the crucial balance of security and agility that is necessary to foster innovation.

Marion King, chair and trustee of Open Banking Limited (OBL), joins Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to explain why, following the publication of JROC’s recommendations for the UK’s Open Banking regime, she sees the organisation operating as “a guardian of standards” as it transitions to a new entity or entities. King reveals why she decided to take the role at OBL at a “pivotal point” for Open Banking in the UK and how the organisation will absorb JROC’s roadmap deadlines to 2025. Finally, Marion discusses the potential to unlock more non-sweeping VRP use cases and why Open Banking is not a competition, but why it is about leadership.

Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by Allen Bonde, chief marketing officer at TreviPay, to discuss customer experience and digital transformation in global B2B payments. He reveals what ‘good’ looks like at a payments checkout, and the implications of failing to evolve payment options for enterprises. He also talks about TreviPay’s growth plans for the UK market.

The Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee’s (JROC’s) recommendations for the next phase of Open Banking in the UK provide some long-awaited clarity for the ecosystem. Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by Tom Burton, director of external affairs and public policy at GoCardless, Stephen Wright, head of regulation and standards at NatWest’s Bank of APIs, and TrueLayer’s head of public policy Jack Wilson to assess what it means for the future of OBIE, and how the industry can meet the most imminent deadlines. How do JROC’s recommendations progress the work already being done on variable recurring payments? Which organisation has overall accountability? What wasn’t covered in the recommendations that they would like to have seen?

Women in Open Banking’s community manager Ellie Duncan is joined by Holly Coventry, VP of international Open Banking payments at American Express and Nichola Johnson-Marshall, co-founder of Working Wonder Consultancy to discuss salary negotiation. They explain how to approach what can often seem like tricky conversations around pay and compensation, particularly for women. Nichola offers her views on what companies should be doing to achieve greater pay equality and the need to be aware of the unconscious bias that may be evident in their own pay policies. Finally, Holly explains why there needs to be a shift in how we think about ‘salary’ and financial packages.

Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by Oren Marmur, chief technology officer for the payments business unit at Finastra, to discuss a recent piece of research about how global banks are investing in payments technology. He reveals the findings from Finastra’s study with Aite-Novarica Group, and explains why they need to step up investment levels in payments tech to keep up with the pace of innovation. Oren also reveals the global threat banks face from fintechs in the payments space.

Abdi Hersi, senior manager, payments strategy at Wealthsimple, provides an update on the state of Open Banking in Canada, given the ongoing consultation process, and explains why Australia’s implementation is particularly influential. He also tells Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan what needs to happen for consumers to be “at the heart of the system” and why he is focused on “connecting the dots” between Canada’s Real-Time Rail and Open Banking.

GFT’s Mauricio Deutsch, Canada banking and capital markets leader, and Carlos Kazuo, Americas innovation leader outline why the main barriers to implementing Open Banking are different levels of market maturity and the adoption of varying legal and regulatory standards. They tell Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan how North America and Europe, in particular, can overcome these challenges. Mauricio also provides an update on the state of play in Canada, which is awaiting its Open Banking roadmap.

Oliver Prill, chief executive officer of Tide, and Simon Cureton, Funding Options chief executive officer, tell Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan about their plans to merge the two companies. It follows a recent announcement that Tide’s acquisition of Funding Options has been approved by the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. Simon reveals his vision for Tide’s existing credit intermediation business once it has merged with Funding Options, while Oliver explains why the UK marketplace for business finance is such a good fit for Tide and its one-platform ethos. They also discuss the environment for SME borrowing and the trends playing out.

David Brear, co-founder and chief executive officer of 11:FS, talks to Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan about the 11:FS Pulse Report 2023, which identifies the best examples of outstanding product experiences in financial services. David reveals why the sector needs to rethink the customer journey, from a digital perspective, to create a service that makes people better off. He also discusses the rise of super-apps – what it takes to become one, and why they are an “operating system for people’s lives”. Finally, David reveals what excites him the most about the future of fintech and financial services in supporting the “underserved, overcharged and overwhelmed”.

GoCardless director of external affairs and public policy Tom Burton, and Nilixa Devlukia, chair of the Open Finance Association, join Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to discuss what’s next for Open Banking in the UK, as it reaches a number of milestones. Tom and Nilixa reveal some of the key upcoming dates for the ecosystem, and the long-term impact on the UK’s global competitiveness as the industry awaits the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee’s report on driving the agenda forward. They also explain the main areas that TPPs would like to see prioritised by the future entity that will follow the OBIE.

Brenton Charnley, founder and chief executive officer of Open Finance Advisors, tells Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan about why Australia is still early in its Open Banking journey, despite the ambition of the country’s Consumer Data Right (CDR). Brenton also discusses the findings of Open Finance Advisors’ recently published ‘Australian Open Banking Ecosystem Map & Report’, which identifies data reliability and implementation issues in the country.

Xiaochen Zhang, global head of innovation and go-to-market at AWS, and Erica Salinas, principal technical leader – Web3 at Amazon, join Ellie Duncan on the podcast to explain what has spurred central banks to explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and why some central banks have taken the lead. They also address some of the biggest global trends, such as digital assets and the use of blockchain beyond CBDCs, and how public sector FIs are innovating to keep up with these disruptive forces. Finally, Xiaochen and Erica talk about the opportunities for women and girls to make their mark in this area of finance.

Xiaochen Zhang, global head of innovation and go-to-market at AWS, and Erica Salinas, principal technical leader – Web3 at Amazon, join Ellie Duncan on the podcast to explain what has spurred central banks to explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and why some central banks have taken the lead. They also address some of the biggest global trends, such as digital assets and the use of blockchain beyond CBDCs, and how public sector FIs are innovating to keep up with these disruptive forces. Finally, Xiaochen and Erica talk about the opportunities for women and girls to make their mark in this area of finance.

In this special episode of Open Banking Expo Unplugged, Holly Coventry, VP, international Open Banking payments at American Express and Adam Cox, co-founder of Open Banking Expo, explain why they jointly launched the Women in Open Banking initiative and how it will champion women. They are joined by Bankifi CEO Mark Hartley, who has signed up as a Women in Open Banking mentor, to reveal what mentees can expect from the mentoring scheme. Finally, all three tell Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan about the main barriers to entry for women trying to enter Open Banking or move up the ranks.

In this episode, Olga Shikhantsova, a partner at venture capital fund Speedinvest, joins Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to explain what she looks for in the early-stage fintech startups she backs and how fintechs in Europe and emerging markets can secure funding against a challenging economic backdrop. She also reveals the type of opportunities that the current macroeconomic environment can present and the sectors ripe for disruption by fintechs.

Henk Van Hulle, CEO of the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) joins Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan to discuss the fifth anniversary of the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which made Open Banking a regulatory requirement in the UK. He talks about the completion of the CMA Roadmap and the implications for the OBIE. He also responds to concerns that the UK will fall behind other countries now the Roadmap has ended and reveals what shape a more equitable funding model might look like for Open Banking.

Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan is joined by Chris Michael, CEO and co-founder of Ozone API, and Huw Davies, chief commercial officer and co-founder of Ozone API, to explain how their industry experience led them to establish the company, along with CTO Freddi Gyara, and why it was the right time to rebrand towards the end of 2022. Chris and Huw also reveal how they came to create the UK's Open Banking Standard and offer up their predictions for how far away the UK is from Open Finance, as its roadmap nears the end. Finally, they reveal what excites them about Open Banking developments beyond the UK's shores, in Europe, Latin America and Canada.

Lili Metodieva, managing director at European payment ecosystem Monneo, tells Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan how she is helping to build out the company's network of partners and how Open Banking is helping to address some of the biggest challenges facing ecommerce merchants. She also explains what Europe can learn from how other countries have introduced payment networks, such as WeChat Pay in China and Brazil's Pix, and reveals Monneo's growth plans for 2023.

In this special edition of the Open Banking Expo Unplugged podcast, to coincide with the #GivingTuesday social media campaign running throughout November, Ellie Duncan is joined by Kieron James, founder and CEO of Wonderful, who explains how the online giving platform has implemented Open Banking-enabled account-to-account payments to achieve 100% fee-free charitable donations. Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International UK, also joins the episode to reveal the organisation's interest in Wonderful and Open Banking payments to save on card processing fees and administrative costs.

Ellie Duncan is joined by Saba Shariff, head of new product development and corporate strategy at Symcor, Rafael Schur, a partner at EY Latin America South and Mick Smothers, a managing director who serves as principal architect for the Banking and Capital Markets practice within EY’s financial services IT consulting team to discuss how there is a lot to learn from Open Banking experiences around the globe with many geographies in various stages of implementation. From Singapore and Japan, to the EU, UK and Australia, the approach to Open Banking has been varied, each attaining different levels of success. Though Canada has its own unique set of regulatory, industry and constitutional frameworks to consider, valuable information can be gathered from implementations in USA and Brazil that can ultimately help to define and accelerate a ‘made-in-Canada’ model of Open Banking.

On this episode, Ellie Duncan is joined by Ron Morrow, executive director, retail payments supervision at the Bank of Canada to discuss the newest core function to supervise payment service providers and retail payments, the Retail Payment Activity Act. Ron explains what it will mean for PSPs, both in Canada and outside of Canada, and how the central bank has engaged with industry on its supervisory approach. He also discusses how the Act will fit alongside other initiatives, such as Real-Time Rail and Open Banking.

In this episode, Sara Costantini, managing director at CRIF, reveals some of the main findings from its latest research, 'Banking on Banks'. She tells Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan why UK consumers, in particular, view banks as "a second line of defence" after the government and where banks are falling short in helping consumers amid the cost-of-living crisis. Finally, she discusses what banks across the UK and Europe can learn about how to use Open Banking technology to deliver the right products and services to their customers.

On this episode, Ellie Duncan is joined by Kareem Refaay, managing director for MENA & GCC at The London Institute of Banking & Finance, which aims to promote financial inclusion through delivering bespoke programmes that provide finance qualification in fintech, digital transformation, sustainable finance and financial literacy. Kareem shares more about the work of the Institute, as well as their recent partnership with the Abu Dhabi Global Market Academy to provide solutions that cater to education and training needs of the banking sector in the MENA and GCC regions.

On this episode, Siamac Rezaiezadeh, senior director of product marketing at GoCardless joins Ellie Duncan to discuss the many types of payment fraud, including identity fraud, and the size of the problem in the UK.

Laura Heritage, Open Banking and API leader at API management platform Axway, joined Ellie Duncan on Open Banking Expo Unplugged to explain how the emergence of the "API economy" has driven innovation and fostered new business models around data sharing. She also discusses how the market-driven approach to implementing Open Banking in the US is playing out and how upcoming Open Banking mandates will offer further clarity on how to participate in the Open Banking economy. Finally, she talks about Axway's work with Brazil on its Open Banking implementation to ensure that it didn't become a check-box exercise.

Matt Komorowski, who joined Volt earlier this year as chief revenue officer after a decade at PayPal, tells Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan about the real-time payments opportunities for both consumers and merchants. He explains why account-to-account payments have gone mainstream so rapidly in Brazil and India, and why the UK needs more clarity from the regulators on the timeline for variable recurring payments in order to encourage commercial use cases.

Mat Mytka, who recently joined FDATA Australia and New Zealand as regional director, tells Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan about what New Zealand can learn from Australia's CDR implementation as it goes down the same route, and why some of the biggest Australian banks have often perceived CDR as more of a threat than an opportunity. He also reveals what he thinks might accelerate global multi-stakeholder learning on Open Banking and Open Finance in the face of slower-than-expected progress, at times.

Jack Wilson, head of public policy at European Open Banking platform TrueLayer, talks to Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan about the need for the FCA and PSR to ensure the UK's Open Banking progress does not stall once the OBIE's roadmap has ended and how incentives might help. He also explains why communication and transparency from the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee and the future Open Banking entity in the UK are crucial. Jack also discusses the main recommendations from the Digital Payments Initiative report and why its findings might not result in concrete action.

Mitul Sudra, chief technology officer at Tarabut Gateway, the first regulated Open Banking platform in the UAE, joins Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan to discuss the Open Banking landscape in MENA, and how banks and fintechs are working alongside one another as collaborators, not competitors. Mitul also reveals Tarabut Gateway's expansion plans and its vision for financial wellbeing in the region.

Mark Hartley, CEO of Bankifi, and TSB's head of digital propositions, partnerships and Open Banking Jason Wilkinson-Brown join Ellie Duncan on the podcast to discuss the app they teamed up to launch earlier this year, called Revenu. They explain how it uses Open Banking to help TSB's SME customers collect payments and why creating successful partnerships between banks and fintechs is like matchmaking.

Adedeji Olowe, trustee of Open Banking Nigeria, tells Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan how far along Nigeria is on its Open Banking implementation journey and why it's been so "easy" to convince the banks that Open Banking is "right for them". He also reveals why Nigeria's central bank has been the most engaged stakeholder.

Open Banking Expo’s Ellie Duncan is joined by Phillip Mind, director of digital policy and innovation, payments policy team at UK Finance, the collective voice for the banking and finance industry in the UK to explain what initiatives are in place to ensure the UK transitions from Open Banking to Open Finance. Phillip also discusses how UK Finance is working with government to develop a digital identity ecosystem that works for the UK but has a global approach, and the potential of digital currencies.

Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan is joined by Duncan Barrigan, chief product and growth officer at GoCardless, which has been credited by the Open Banking Implementation Entity for taking the first variable recurring payment (VRP). Duncan explains how GoCardless is working with UK bank NatWest on VRPs and its non-sweeping VRP pilot. He also reveals what GoCardless' own research on the current cost-of-living crisis reveals about the value of sweeping use cases for consumers and businesses.

Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan is joined by Jennifer Tramontana, executive director of the Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization (CPPO) and Francisco Alvarez-Evangelista, advisor at Aite-Novarica Group, to discuss what is behind the growth of Canada's prepaid market in recent years and the key findings of their joint research.

Francisco and Jennifer also explain how it compares to the prepaid space in the US, as well as how regulation is shaping the market in Canada.

Lena Hackelöer, founder and CEO of Brite Payments, talks to Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan about why she started the business in 2019 and the thriving fintech scene in Stockholm where she's based. Lena also explains why partnerships are so vital in the payments space, including Brite Payments' own partnership with Sofort. Finally, she reveals where the company's geographic expansion plans will take it next.

Token CEO Todd Clyde and new chief product officer Charles Damen join Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan to discuss the widespread adoption of Open Banking-enabled payments in Europe, as well as the headwinds and tailwinds facing the region, such as fragmentation. Todd reveals more about how Token plans to use its recent $40 million Series C funding round to scale the business. Finally, Charles reveals his reasons for joining the company and his vision as CPO.

Saba Shariff, Head of new Product Development and Corporate Strategy at Symcor, joins Ellie Duncan from Open Banking Expo, to discuss the dual requirements of efficiency and scalability in establishing a uniquely Canadian Open Banking model. While trust and security are table stakes for adoption, creation of market-wide efficiencies and effective scaling will constitute sustainable success.

In this episode, Open Banking Expo's Ellie Duncan talks to Becky Danks, head of product at Comma, and Brightpay's marketing manager Rachel Quinn about how Open Banking is transforming payroll services, bringing much-needed flexibility and innovation to what has been an outdated process. Becky also reveals Comma's future plans beyond payroll services, while Rachel offers her predictions about the future of payroll in the UK.

In this episode, Tink's VP of payments and platforms Tom Pope tells Open Banking Expo's head of content Ellie Duncan why variable recurring payments (VRPs) are the most significant development in Open Banking to date, and explains what both merchants and consumers stand to gain from VRPs. He also predicts when VRPs will reach mass adoption levels in the UK.