UK open banking needs a new home, a new mandate and a new roadmap
Open banking is going through some changes. Five years after its establishment, the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), responsible for UK open banking API standards, is in need of a new home, a new mandate and a new roadmap.
At the end of January, Charlotte Crosswell, the Chair and Trustee of the OBIE published a transition report, giving detailed recommendations on those three things. In this blog post, we sum up what she said and share our feedback.
A new home
The OBIE is housed in an independent company (Open Banking Limited), funded by the nine biggest UK banks and overseen by a Trustee who ensures that it progresses the aims of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Order, to promote competition through open banking.
Open Banking Limited employs technical experts to develop and maintain standards which help UK banks and third party providers (TPPs) to deliver open banking and monitor its implementation.
But the OBIE isn't a permanent body and its future is now the subject of much discussion, following the end of the Open Banking Roadmap. The decision about OBIE’s future ultimately falls to a committee of regulators called the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC). In her report, the Trustee recommends:
a ‘continue as is’ approach until a decision from JROC, followed by: