Open Banking is a huge opportunity and it’ll change financial services whether customers know or not, giving people more control.
That’s why we sat down with Equinix’s Regional VP of Sales, Andrew Eppich at the Open Banking Excellence meet-up to discuss the future of financial services. We explored the opportunities, the threats and what’s going to separate the winners from the losers. Watch the full interview below.
Q1. What’s the biggest opportunity in Open Banking?
“One of the biggest opportunities starts with one of the biggest responsibilities. With the regulatory impact of PSD2, there’s a real thrust amongst banks to figure out what their API strategy will be like internally.
With that strategy though, always the optimist, there’s a real opportunity for them to get their datasets in order and organised in such a way that they can become a platform of that environment to others in the fintech realm that might collaborate with them.
So a readying, based on this regulatory pressure, might then become an enabler for them for future innovation. I would suggest that it’s something that’s going to be a journey rather than one killer app.
I think it starts with a concept but ultimately these kinds of forums that we’re participating in here with the open banking excellence, is where I think a lot of these good ideas are going to get triggered. So, I’d say again, it’s a burden at the beginning but again it could breed innovation.”
Q2. What’s the biggest challenge?
“I think in any situation where you’re adding multiple participants, there’s a concern around security. There has to be that robustness that people have come to expect and the security around the data that those banks are holding on to have.
But when you start to then make it more complex into a broader and more open system, those additional participants add some additional complexity and in turn add some inherent risk. They’re a pretty big target already with regards to cyber criminals.
So the fact that now there’s various different entry points for those bad actors to enter in to in this open environment. I guess that’s something that I think all of us should be collectively concerned with.”
Q3. What will separate the winners from the losers?
“I wish there was the silver bullet answer as well as the silver bullet app that I’m sure all of these banks are aspiring to. But I think in fact that this is going to become an incrementally evolved environment where we don’t necessarily know who all of the participants are today.
What separates the winners from the losers are those who are building for scale and flexibility. So basically offering the robustness that the customers have come to expect but then moreover be ready for the unknown.
It’s an interesting riddle to try and solve for because we don’t necessarily know what the endgame is. Rather we know that this environment will ultimately become a platform of innovation for them. They’ve got to figure out how to do it at scale.
How do you collaborate across your own internal organisation, introduce other elements to it in an ecosystem that hasn’t been clearly defined yet? That’s not an enviable task but I think in the context of winners and losers it’s those who are readying for that ongoing change.”
Q4. What will the world of open banking look like in 5 years time?
“If I had a crystal ball! I think it’s going to be one in which the adjacent partners. So at the end of the day, if it’s focused on the consumer or the business entity that’s it’s being in service to, the idea that these adjacent industries – whether that be retail, or data analytics or any of the other things that are out there.
We shouldn’t lose sight of them being potentially – if not important participants, could even be dominant participants.
So again, I think this picking what’s going to happen in the next five years, your guess is as good as mine. It’s a readiness rather than defining what the end state is going to be.”
To find out how Open Banking is putting the customer in control, we’re talking to members of the open banking community. To view other full-length interviews in the series, click here or enter your email in below to get new videos straight to your inbox.