Plend joins fintechs calling for more clarity on the future of open banking
Consumer peer-to-peer lending platform Plend is among 17 fintechs who have called for more clarity on the future of open banking in the UK.
Plend, alongside the likes of Monzo, Wise, Plum and Moneyhub, have signed a joint letter to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to complain about the lack of progress on open banking.
It comes just days after the regulators issued an update, where they stated that they were “determined to ensure that the benefits of open banking are fully realised and momentum is sustained”, but offered few details on how this would be achieved.
The fintechs wrote that this update “did little to assuage our concerns that the integrity and potential of open banking is at risk,” adding that “we have not received clear direction from the joint regulatory oversight committee (JROC) about how the 2017 CMA order will continue to be enforced after the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is dissolved.”
Read more: OBIE seeks new chair and trustee as Crosswell exits
The regulators confirmed that open banking will soon transition from the current model – where it is overseen by the OBIE – to an interim regulatory state, before a future entity is created to take the place of the OBIE. However, this future entity is yet to be defined.
The fintech response was led by two industry groups – the Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) and the Financial Data and Technology Association (Fdata).
“We’ve written this letter and convened a great group of fintech supporters to call on the joint committee to speed up,” said Coadec’s fintech policy lead Luke Kosky.
“When we look back on the last twelve months, it’s hard to point to concrete progress in our world-leading open banking regime. While an undeniable challenge, defining the future governance of open banking is a critical next step, but is taking too long.”
Read more: Open banking “fundamental” to future of P2P