Why I'm glad #OpenBanking can help banks to be more like Citymapper

As an avid user of the Citymapper app, I click on “Get Me Somewhere” and it beautifully aggregates for me transit, transport and navigation information and provides it all to me in a single interface. I am oblivious to the fact that it has had to combine APIs from the MRT train and bus companies or other aggregators like Uber, together with weather services.  After having tried multiple different transit and location tracking apps, I love that I get all the travel and routing information served to me in a single place here (also ofcourse that it tracks my location and helps me get off at the right bus stop).

Let’s face it. For all the hesitation there may be among users and banks to embrace open banking and interoperable technologies, we are / will be dealing with an increasingly evolved user base with:

1. Users who have a need (This is what I want to do); and we seek a solution (What’s the most optimal - fastest / most economical / most convenient - way to do it).
2. Users who want end-to-end: We want information, but we also want to know what to do with the information and be able to act upon it. (Therefore I don't want to only see the best route across multiple options, I also want to be able to book my Uber directly through it).

Trying to provide a consolidated banking experience is not entirely new. Banks and Fintechs have been working on Account Aggregation - some of the early banking products that I worked on were BAI, SWIFT MT 940 series compliant. Others have resorted to work-around solutions to access client data via screen scraping to access bank account information on behalf of a customer. They all attempt to provide corporate or retail customers a single view across their banking or financial relationships. But resistance from banks to share with other banks for fear of cannibalizing their own business, reluctance from users to provide access to their data, and data security concerns have been authentic, but they have not allowed these solutions to become more mainstream.

Regulatory-led initiatives such as UK’s PSD2 & Open Banking, or IndiaStack are great examples of the emergence of interoperable ecosystems between banks, Fintechs, government, commercial establishments and end-users.

------

Users are already searching for the most optimal (fastest / most economical / most convenient) ways  to “Get Them Somewhere / Something”. For Banks and Fintechs to thrive (not just survive) in this ecosystem it will mean putting the end-user upfront and center.