Friday Lunchtime Lecture: Where is Open Banking now

A study by the Consumer Market Authority showed that older and larger banks do not have to compete hard enough for customers’ business, and smaller and newer banks find it difficult to grow. This means that many people are paying more than they should for their banking activities and are not benefiting from new services. As a result, Open Banking was set up in September 2016 to enable personal customers and small businesses to share their data securely with other banks and with third parties, allowing them to compare products on the basis of their own requirements and to manage their accounts without having to use their bank. To deliver Open Banking, a new organisation was created - the Open Banking Implementation Entity – which is funded by the nine largest current account providers in the UK (Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS Group, Santander), as well as Challenger Banks, Fintechs, Third Parties, Consumer Groups and other parties to define and develop the required Application Programme Interfaces (APIs), security and data standards that underpin Open Banking. Imran Gulamhuseinwala OBE, Implementation Trustee of the Open Banking Implementation Entity will talk about the challenges and the progress made to date on Open Banking. About the speaker Imran Gulamhuseinwala OBE was appointed as Trustee for the Open Banking Implementation Entity on 13 April 2017. In his role as Trustee, he has oversight and responsibility for Open Banking’s development and delivery of the common technical standards underpinning the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) open banking initiative. He is seconded to Open Banking from Ernst & Young LLP (EY) where he is a London-based partner in its financial services practice. He is also EY’s Global Head of FinTech. He joined EY in 2014. At EY, he has worked closely with government, regulators and industry bodies to drive the FinTech agenda, leading studies for both UK Trade & Investment and HM Treasury to measure the size and growth of the FinTech sector in the UK and develop a strategy for future growth. Prior to joining Open Banking, he has been involved with the Entity’s work through its stakeholder working groups and has been active in financial technology as both an investor and a start-up Founder. He has worked in financial services for 18 years and spent eight years investing in the fintech sector. He is the co-founder of CommuterClub, a FinTech 50 start-up which helps commuters to access savings for annual travel season tickets. He was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list for his contribution to the financial services Sector. He has a Masters in Engineering from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.