There have been great successes for [Open Banking in 2020](https://www.yapily.com/blog/open-banking-api-performance-2020/) despite the pandemic, and 2021 has a lot to offer in the form of Open Finance. At The FinTechTalents Virtual [Open Finance](https://www.yapily.com/blog/3-examples-of-what-open-finance-can-do-right-now/) 2020 event, we heard from many businesses across the financial sector, all sharing their experiences, lessons learnt from Open Banking and what they expect will come from the development of Open Finance. There were numerous recurring themes throughout the event regarding what needs to happen for Open Finance to become more mainstream. The mindset change needed to increase customer centric innovation, the importance of increasing awareness and trust of Open Finance, how standards and interoperability are key to success alongside the quality of the APIs.

## Developing a customer centric mindset for innovation

Open Finance provides a well needed shake up to the financial services industry, most importantly, it promotes a new mindset that supports customer centric innovation. This mindset change needs to happen to fully support the functionality that will ultimately benefit the end user. Industry leaders at this year's event passionately supported the idea that industry change is needed, to support a customer centric mindset that will solve inefficiencies in the market. Using Open Finance as a catalyst to create groundbreaking products and services that will support the end user and provide the best experience possible. It is an opportunity to be the change, as opposed to fighting the change which could lead to a market where the traditional bank is no longer as important as it once was.

## Increasing awareness and trust of Open Finance

Industry leaders supported the idea that [Open Banking](https://yapily.com/what-is-open-banking) and Open Finance are terms that consumers are not yet familiar with. Users often ask '[What is open finance?](https://www.yapily.com/blog/3-examples-of-what-open-finance-can-do-right-now/)' and lack experience and therefore confidence, with products and services which require them to engage with Open Banking journeys. This lack of awareness, experience and confidence means that there is a low level of trust. Speakers were in agreement that the goal for companies in the financial industry should be to tackle this as best we can, as a collective. Working together to promote the new products and services available to consumers and aiding them in the adoption of new user experiences.

Fortunately for the industry, [Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/solutions/payments) already provides a way in which to introduce consumers to authentication flows and new user journeys. End users who are presented with the option to pay by bank, as opposed to card, will inevitably benefit from engaging with Open Banking leading to further awareness and trust. 

Click here to find out more about the benefits of [Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/solutions/payments).

## Standards and interoperability are key to further adoption

Open Finance standards are in the early stages of development, with many industry leaders and governing bodies scoping out the next phase. A key talking point was the importance of these standards needing to ensure interoperability, so that the world can benefit from easier adoption of Open Finance and the innovative products and services that it will power. 

Experiences from the growth and development of [Open Banking](https://yapily.com) are an example of how varied standards have staggered the development of different markets. The key to further adoption is aligned standards that support interoperability, to make it easier for financial institutions and third parties who wish to take advantage of Open Finance. 

## The development and quality of APIs

Despite the reinforcement by regulators on API standards, banks were not built to share data, they were built to store it. [Open Banking APIs](https://yapily.com) need to support a function that banks are not used to, which has led to slower development and therefore a lower quality of API connectivity for third parties. However, there has been a strong foundation put in place to be built upon and banks should embrace new regulatory challenges to continue the growth seen in 2020. 

As Open Finance grows banks will need to see TPPs as potential customers as opposed to threats, working to develop a proposition to support the next wave of innovation. This is important for them to maintain relevancy and also develop new revenue streams based on future products and services built on the data they hold.

You can view the improvements that major banks have made through 2020 in our Open Banking [API performance roundup here](https://www.yapily.com/blog/open-banking-api-performance-2020/).

## Example use case for Open Finance development

In a world where communication around pensions is usually received by post, innovation is needed to bring further control back into the customers hands. Typically hard to manage, switch and consolidate - pensions are a valuable asset to the population and many are lost because of the accessibility issues. Open Finance changes this. Not just for pensions but for various financial products such as mortgages, investments and perhaps in some cases savings. By including more financial data sharing in the scope of regulation and API standards, consumers will have greater control and visibility over the finances in future. Allowing them to make better and more informed decisions regarding their finances.

Read more about the power of [Open Finance](https://www.yapily.com/blog/3-examples-of-what-open-finance-can-do-right-now/) here.


FinTechTalents Virtual Finance 2020 Roundup

At The FinTechTalents Virtual Open Finance 2020 event, we heard from many businesses across the financial sector, all sharing their experiences, lessons learnt from Open Banking and what they expect will come from the development of Open Finance.

[Yapily](https://yapily.com), a London-based fintech startup, has announced plans to set up in Vilnius, the company’s third European office. Yapily joins a growing number of UK fintechs including Revolut, Curve and Square that chose Lithuania as the location for its European hub. 

Yapily was established in 2017, shortly after the EU’s second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) granted third-party access to customer data of financial institutions. The legislation, which aims to stimulate competition in the financial services market, compelled providers of such services to innovate their API and [open banking](https://yapily.com) practices. Stefano Vaccino, Founder and CEO of Yapily, used his extensive experience in fintech and commercial banking to create Yapily, a platform that enables companies to take advantage of open banking.

Yapily connects businesses to banks and financial institutions using a single [open API](https://yapily.com). Using the platform, companies can access their customers’ account information and gain a holistic financial view without having to build and maintain hundreds of APIs of their own. Powered by a secure and regulated service, Yapily manages and facilitates the connection to fetch information and initiate payments while ensuring PSD2 compliance. 

“Yapily makes connecting to banks easy through sharing financial data and payments infrastructure,” explains Stefano Vaccino. “We connect you to thousands of banks using an [open banking API](https://yapily.com), taking care of the complexity behind the scenes”.

Yapily’s vision of [open banking](https://yapily.com/what-is-open-banking) has attracted significant investment. Since its inception, the company has raised $18.4 million in VC funding. Yapily’s investors include Holtzbrinck Ventures, LocalGlobe and Lakestar, an early investor in Skype, Spotify, Airbnb and Facebook as well as some of Europe’s biggest fintechs – Klarna and Revolut.

Yapily now allows companies to connect to more than 600 banks, providing 80% account coverage across 15 European countries. The company boasts customers ranging from innovative fintechs to Fortune 500 companies including American Express, IBM, Intuit Quickbooks, GoCardless and BUX. In the last 12 months, Yapily has tripled its headcount and currently employs 72 people in offices in the UK and Germany.

__According to Stefano Vaccino__, Yapily’s current focus is to penetrate the European market. “This involves building a scalable platform while accelerating testing capabilities for our European users”,” he says. 

Looking for a new European hub following the Brexit decision, Yapily considered several European locations, including Portugal and Germany. For the company, it was important to find a supportive regulator and fintech ecosystem. The expertise of Lithuanian developers; reputation of the country’s regulator; and a flourishing fintech scene all contributed to Yapily’s decision on Vilnius. It’s Lithuanian entity received regulatory license in December 2020, prior to the UK leaving the EU, and is now focused on its exciting expansion plans. 

“Outside of the UK, Lithuania has the second largest fintech hub in Europe,” says Stefano Vaccino. “The local regulator plays a positive role in the fintech ecosystem, allowing Yapily to become a part of it.”

The company will hire up to 30 people in Vilnius in the coming months. Yapily is currently recruiting for compliance, engineering, product and operations roles. 

“Open Banking will create a more competitive landscape of tailored financial services,” Mantas Katinas, Managing Director of Invest Lithuania, believes. “As more and more banks comply with the [PSD2](https://www.yapily.com/blog/psd2-screenscraping-apis/), Lithuania’s fintech community could be at the forefront of developing financial products leveraging this new access to data. Yapily’s choice to set up an office in Vilnius shows that Lithuania is an excellent base for cutting-edge fintechs.”


UK Open Banking fintech Yapily announces expansion in Vilnius

Yapily, a London-based fintech startup, has announced plans to set up in Vilnius, the company’s third European office. Yapily joins a growing number of UK fintechs that chose Lithuania as the location for a European hub following Brexit.

__London, December 2020:__ New data released by Yapily, the UK’s leading open banking network, has revealed how [open banking API connectivity](https://yapily.com) has become a top priority for banks in the UK as we head into 2021.

The data reveals that despite disruption to banking operations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, banks had matured in their open banking development once the industry had entered Q3, with response times closing on those of the digitally native neo banks, such as Monzo which averages 211ms in its response time. 

Some of the UK’s top banking providers were analysed including: Santander UK, First Direct, Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, M&S Bank, Lloyds, Halifax, Natwest, RBS and AIB. 

Of the banks with slow response times at the beginning of the year, these times had been dramatically reduced the further we progressed into 2020; the average response time across all banks was 1154ms in February, but by the time OBIE announced there were two million active users of open banking, the majority of banks had closed the margin between their connectivity and that of the digital first neo banks to an average of 540ms. 

__Commenting, Stefano Vaccino, CEO and founder of Yapily said:__ “With recent research from OBIE finding that 50% of the UK’s small businesses are using services from [open banking providers](https://yapily.com), having faster response times between banks and open banking partners are critical to deliver better services such as borrowing, accessing payments and more.”

The data showed that the most improved bank was M&S Bank, which managed to reduce its response time from 1314ms to 632ms, although compared to its competitors its final response time was slower. Elsewhere, AIB ended the year with the fastest response time of 288ms, reduced from 991ms. Natwest, RBS and Halifax started the year with some of the fastest times in 2020, and remained near the top of the table through to the end of the year.

The full list of banks analysed are below:

- AIB from 991ms to 288ms
- Natwest from 539ms to 331ms
- RBS reduced from 533ms to 334ms
- Halifax from 492ms to 472ms
- Lloyds from 529ms to 491ms
- Nationwide from 481ms to 580ms
- HSBC from 827ms to 592ms
- Barclays from 1180ms to 599ms
- First Direct from 1577ms to 604ms
- M&S Bank from 1314ms to 632ms
- Santander UK 1502ms to 1008ms

![Open Banking API performance review 2020](//images.ctfassets.net/3ndxs7efitel/1oR9hOaz5eoAJzu26diW72/90c5553dc11a932e8610e1570427a88a/static-4.png)

__Vaccino continues:__ “2020 was a difficult year for many. And there were fears that the momentum generated last year with Open Banking would be stunted, but our data provides confidence within the industry. [Open Banking](https://yapily.com/what-is-open-banking) is not only growing quickly, but it’s also being taken very seriously by traditional banks. And that’s shown by response times getting faster, indicating better connectivity.

“As we head into 2021, we expect open banking to really come into its own, as financial institutions look to launch and connect with new services aimed at giving customers better control, greater security and an improved experience.

“There will be a huge uplift in [Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/solutions/payments) too, as merchants begin to understand the cost benefits that open banking can bring. With banks maturing in their approach to open banking, we’ll also see more movement towards open finance, which will lead to the growth of services geared towards offering more personalised and improved services such as lending, savings, insurance, pensions and more.”

__Notes on the data:__ 

The data was compiled and monitored throughout the year by Yapily’s API platform. The company’s open banking infrastructure is used by some of the world’s leading companies such as American Express, IBM, Intuit Quickbooks, IRIS and more. 

[See further live updates on the performance of APIs here.](https://apiscore.yapily.com/)

Open Banking API performance review 2020

Looking back at 2020, Open Banking API performance data shows that despite a tough year, Open Banking continued to grow. As we move into 2021 and towards Open Finance, this data provides a strong benchmark for improvement.

__8 December 2020:__ BUX, Europe’s largest neobroker, has announced it has extended its partnership with leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily to France and Austria. The move will enable French and Austrian BUX Zero users, along with German users already taking advantage, to seamlessly fund their accounts and quickly build an investment portfolio.

Through extending the partnership, even more BUX Zero customers can now conveniently make deposits to their BUX Zero accounts from within their bank’s mobile banking app. Removing the friction involved in investing and opening access to bank accounts.

The market for fintech services has increased significantly across both France and Austria since the implementation of [PSD2](https://www.yapily.com/blog/psd2-screenscraping-apis/), to meet the demand from consumers who now expect a more accessible, and friction-free way to manage their finances. 

The extension of the BUX and Yapily partnership meets this growing demand head-on - allowing French and Austrian BUX Zero users to begin investing in the brands and companies they care about commission-free, in an easy, and intuitive way. With a simple and quick onboarding solution that benefits from the enhanced security of open banking already in place, funding an account is now equally as quick and simple.

Typically, French and Austrian BUX Zero users funded their accounts through bank transfers; taking on average one working day to arrive. The integration of Yapily’s [open banking API](https://yapily.com) enables BUX Zero to enhance even more of its customers’ experience by removing the friction, which speeds up the process in making deposits to their BUX Zero accounts. 

The expansion of the partnership further consolidates Yapily’s position in Europe as the backbone of open banking, and the infrastructure that partners need in order to take advantage of the benefits that open finance will bring. Yapily now has near total European coverage.  

__Nick Bortot, Founder & CEO of BUX said,__ "Efficiency and high usability are the core of BUX Zero, which we clearly prove by integrating the Yapily API. 

"We are constantly looking for innovations to make the investment experience of our digital native customers even easier. This new generation of investors needs an investment experience that fits their mobile lifestyle. BUX Zero is the first choice for these investors because it offers the right solution for this target group. In the long term, we want to launch BUX Zero throughout Europe and with Yapily, we can best adapt to local markets.”

__Stefano Vaccino, CEO of Yapily said,__ “We are pleased to announce the extension of our partnership with Bux to France, which is in line with our pan-European strategy. Drawing on our open banking expertise, we have rolled out connectivity in three countries - Germany, France and Austria - which allows regional Bux Zero users to receive a better in-app experience.

“Across Europe, we have seen increasing demand to provide robust infrastructure to support our customers in rolling out the benefits of open banking beyond their native market. We look forward to continuing our work with Bux across Europe.”

---

__About BUX (getbux.com)__

BUX makes it easy and affordable for Europeans to do more with their money. Since launching in 2014, BUX has made the markets accessible for young investors across 9 countries in Europe. BUX currently offers 3 apps that allow users to explore the financial markets including BUX Zero, the flagship platform that is making commission-free investing possible, allowing users to invest in the brands and companies they care about. BUX Zero is currently available in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France and Belgium. 

Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the company is backed by Holtzbrinck Ventures, Velocity Capital, Orange Growth Capital and Initial Capital.

__About Yapily (yapily.com)__

Yapily is an enterprise API connectivity platform, allowing companies to share financial data and access payment infrastructure. Designed and built for Open Finance, Yapily enables fairer and better financial products for everyone. 

The company has raised $18.4m in funding to date, and provides infrastructure for industry leaders including American Express, Intuit Quickbooks, Moneyfarm and BUX. Headquartered in London, UK, Yapily employs over 75 people and continues to scale rapidly. 


BUX and Yapily extend partnership into France and Austria

BUX has announced it has extended its partnership with leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily to France and Austria. The move will enable French and Austrian users, to seamlessly fund their accounts and quickly build an investment portfolio.

__London, UK, 1 December 2020:__ Leading enterprise connectivity platform [Yapily](https://yapily.com) has today announced that Martin Threakall has joined the executive team as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Martin brings over a decade’s expertise in growing payment start-up and scale-up businesses and will help lead Yapily’s European expansion and supercharge the FinTech’s growth.

The announcement comes as Yapily consolidates its position as the backbone of [Open Banking](https://yapily.com) across Europe, following a number of strategic partnerships in 2020, including American Express, BUX and Moneyfarm. Martin joins the team with extensive experience in enabling organisations to realise their growth potential and will help build a structural approach to lead the business to further success in 2021.

Prior to joining Yapily, Martin was co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Modulr, the leading Payments as a Service API platform - where he led the various functions within operations, including Payment Operations, Compliance and Legal, Customer Services, Banking Relationships, as well as the European side of the business. Prior to this, Martin was the Vice President of Operations at Currency Cloud, the global, multi-currency account infrastructure and the Client Operations Director at WEX Europe Limited, the leading financial technology service provider.

Speaking about his appointment __Martin Threakall, Chief Operating Officer for Yapily says,__ “I’m excited to join the team at this critical time for growth. Yapily offers market leading technology that is far ahead of its competition, which is why they are the experts when it comes to Open Banking. And as we head into 2021, I'm excited to join the team and help them continue to thrive in the next normal.”

__Stefano Vaccino, Chief Executive Officer for Yapily says,__ “Bringing together leading experts to supercharge growth for Yapily is a top priority, which is why we are delighted to welcome Martin to the team. He joins us with a wealth of valuable experience and will help us continue to scale our business and reach our potential as we execute our European expansion goals.”

---

__About Yapily__

Yapily is an enterprise API connectivity platform, allowing companies to share financial data and access payment infrastructure. Designed and built for Open Finance, Yapily enables fairer and better financial products for everyone. 

The company has raised $18.4m in funding to date, and provides infrastructure for industry leaders including American Express, Intuit Quickbooks, Moneyfarm and BUX. Headquartered in London, UK, Yapily employs over 75 people and continues to scale rapidly. 


Yapily appoints new COO to lead European expansion and supercharge growth

Martin Threakall joins the Yapily team as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Martin brings over a decade’s expertise in growing payment start-up and scale-up businesses and will help lead Yapily’s European expansion and supercharge the FinTech’s growth.

As we approach Black Friday, the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) expects total online sales to rise 52.9% from £3.771 billion (2019) to £5.764 billion this year. Although this is encouraging for ecommerce, online businesses still fall victim to high levels of cart abandonment, card fraud, unexpected refunds and high transaction fees as a part of their day-to-day existence. [Open Banking powered payments](https://yapily.com/open-banking/payments) could change that. 

## What are Open Banking Payments?

[Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/open-banking/payments) are essentially payments that are made directly from one bank to another bank, no middlemen or unnecessary steps in the process. Open Banking payments ultimately reduce the amount of fees that merchants pay on transactions that would usually pass through debit or credit card providers. They also reduce the liklihood of fraud and provide a smoother customer experience. 

You can read more about the benefits of Open Banking payments in our free to download [payment innovation ebook here](https://yapily.com/payments-ebook).

## How Open Banking payments decrease cart abandonment.

Open Banking payments are far less complicated than finding or remembering a long card number, expiry date, security code and billing address. Let alone if you are forced to sign up during this process. Considering that 87% of consumers will abandon their shopping if they feel a checkout process is “complicated”, getting the checkout process up to scratch will only help ecommerce businesses convert their visitors into customers. 

The [Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/open-banking/payments) flow is as simple as choosing your bank, approving the payment via your mobile app or online banking without the need for additional online forms, card details or other security measures. This is due to the fact that SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) is built into the Open Banking payment journey. Consumers log into their banking app or online platform using facial recognition, fingerprint or other secure login method to approve transactions. This reduces the amount of steps involved in the payment process when compared to card payment processes and reduces the chance of human error when entering payment details.

## How Open Banking payments reduce card fraud for ecommerce businesses.

Open Banking payments don’t just reduce card fraud, they eliminate it. You don’t need a card to complete an Open Banking payment. Which means there are no fraudulent transactions by scammers using other people’s card details. As SCA is built into the Open Banking payments flow, scammers are less likely to make fraudulent transactions. Consumers use their face, fingerprint or other secure method to log in to their banking application on their own device to approve transactions. This makes it much harder for fraudsters.

Ecommerce businesses using Open Banking payments, will therefore benefit from a reduced rate of fraud and a safer, smoother payment journey for customers. Read more about how [Open Banking payments improve UX and reduce fraud](https://www.yapily.com/blog/how-open-banking-payments-can-improve-ux-and-prevent-card-fraud/) [here.](https://www.yapily.com/blog/how-open-banking-payments-can-improve-ux-and-prevent-card-fraud/)

## How Open Banking payments give online businesses ownership of refunds.

There is no need to wrestle with the bank or card infrastructure providers to unlock funds for refunding consumers. With [Open Banking reverse payments](https://www.yapily.com/blog/what-are-reverse-payments-in-open-banking/), businesses control the refund process from start to finish. One benefit of cutting out the middleman in payments and refunds is that the business and consumer can pay each other directly without any unecessary delay. A refund that involves card/payment providers usually takes up to five working days, with Open Banking it could take less than one.

You can find out more about [Open Banking reverse payments](https://www.yapily.com/blog/what-are-reverse-payments-in-open-banking/) (refunds) here.

## How Open Banking payments would reduce card payment fees.

Transaction fees affect all businesses that accept card payments. Generally costing businesses anywhere from 1% to 4% depending on the card payment provider. This is a significant chunk of fees that are paid on each and every transaction. This in turn shrinks profit margins and in some cases businesses have to push the transaction fee onto the consumer. This Black Friday alone, collectively, merchants could be paying up to £57.64 million in transaction fees.

Businesses and consumers are being unfairly targeted by card transaction fees and Open Banking payments would allow for that fee to be significantly reduced, benefiting all businesses and consumers.


4 ways Open Banking payments can help ecommerce businesses

How Open Banking payments can benefit ecommerce businesses and online payments.

__London, UK, 25 November 2020__: KashFlow, by IRIS Software Group, is today announcing it is working with leading enterprise connectivity platform [Yapily](https://yapily.com). The partnership will enable KashFlow customers to gain real-time insight into their cash flow and provide them with a frictionless end-to-end bookkeeping service. 

Running a small business is complicated, even before adding the effects of Covid-19 and Brexit into the mix. Business leaders need to be more flexible and adaptable than ever before. Not only enabling their staff to work flexibly, but also in terms of ensuring the critical, but often mundane, aspects of running a business are properly managed during these difficult times. The time for manual bookkeeping processes has gone. 

Through partnering with Yapily, KashFlow customers can connect and extract account information all from within the KashFlow portal - providing them with one single source of truth about their business’ financial health. This removes the friction and inefficiencies involved with manual bookkeeping and provides customers with the insight they need to move forward with confidence into the year ahead. 

Typically, bookkeeping has been a manual, tedious, but essential, task for business owners. The integration of Yapily’s open banking API enables KashFlow to improve its SME customers’ experience by removing the friction, which speeds up critical processes such as invoicing, reconciliation and payroll. With these critical, but historically complicated, tasks taken care of, business owners are free to focus on what they do best - growing their business. 

__JF Sullivan, Chief Product Officer for IRIS Software Group says__, “By partnering with Yapily, our customers now have a far more efficient and secure way to manage their cash flow - which is of utmost importance in this current landscape of uncertainty. 

“Yapily’s core infrastructure means KashFlow customers can now control their controllables with ease. Getting a single source of truth about their financial health so they know best how to prepare for what’s ahead. They can now move forward with confidence - and thrive - in the next normal.”

__Stefano Vaccino, Chief Executive Officer for Yapily says__, “Leveraging our technical expertise, we’ve been able to provide KashFlow’s customers - a large number of which are SMEs, critical to the UK economy’s recovery - with a better customer experience and crucial insight into their financial positions. Something that is needed now more than ever with the UK in a second national lockdown. 

“Through partnering with KashFlow, we’re continuing our mission to expand the reach of [open banking](https://yapily.com/what-is-open-banking) and bring its benefits to all small businesses. We believe open banking enables fairer and better financial services for everyone. We look forward to developing our partnership with KashFlow and IRIS Software Group to fuel greater financial accessibility for their customers.”

KashFlow, by IRIS Software Group, is an innovative online bookkeeping and payroll solution. It provides intuitive cloud-based accounting software for accountancy firms and SMEs, saving business owners both time and effort by letting them manage accounts anytime, anywhere.

The new collaboration further consolidates Yapily’s position as the backbone of open banking and the infrastructure that partners need to take advantage of its benefits.

---

__About IRIS Software Group__

IRIS Software Group is one of the UK’s largest privately held software companies. It exists to take the pain out of processes and let professionals working in businesses and schools focus on the work they love. IRIS provides software solutions and services for finance, HR and payroll teams, educational organisations, and accountancy firms that helps them comply with regulations, drive productivity and better engage with key stakeholders. Through simplifying, automating and providing insights on everyday mission-critical tasks for organisations of all shapes and sizes, IRIS ensures customers can look forward with certainty and confidence.   

IRIS has over 120,000 UK and international customers with 80% having a tenure of five or more years. IRIS is the largest third-party online filer with the UK Government. Eighty-nine of the top 100 UK accountancy firms and 50 of the top 100 US CPA firms use IRIS software. Circa 20% of the UK’s workforce is paid by IRIS payroll offerings. More than 850,000 UK employees are managed by IRIS HR solutions. Over 11,000 UK schools and academies use IRIS, with four million parents and guardians using IRIS apps to connect with their children’s school; 300 million messages are delivered between schools and parents each year, and over £15 million transactional payments are processed every month. IRIS is placed in the Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 and the Megabuyte50.   

__About Yapily (yapily.com)__

Yapily is an enterprise API connectivity platform, allowing companies to share financial data and access payment infrastructure. Designed and built for Open Finance, Yapily enables fairer and better financial products for everyone.

The company has raised $18.4m in funding to date, and provides infrastructure for industry leaders including American Express, Intuit Quickbooks, Moneyfarm and BUX. Headquartered in London, UK, Yapily employs over 60 people and continues to scale rapidly.

KashFlow and Yapily partner to support SMEs with digital bookkeeping and cash flow management.

KashFlow by IRIS Software Group, is working with leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily. The partnership will enable KashFlow customers to gain real-time insight into cash flow and provide them with a frictionless bookkeeping service. 

__London, Berlin, 10th November 2020:__ Leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily has today launched in Germany as it turns its attention to drive open banking adoption for organisations across Europe. 

Fintech has transformed the global financial services landscape with Germany considered one of the biggest fintech markets in the world. With disruptive fintechs such as N26 and Wefox Group, companies have firmly established their presence in the marketplace. 

Based in the UK, Yapily now launches operations in Germany. Where technological innovation and application are key drivers for the German marketplace, application programming interface (API) connectivity is developing in the region. Yapily will provide it’s API-only platform for companies to reap the benefits of open banking, unlocking new revenue streams and product innovation. 

Yapily enables customers to seamlessly connect; securely access financial information and payment infrastructure, accelerating local fintech players. Through its technologies and services, Yapily is helping German businesses scale internationally, while also supporting international businesses entering the German market. Accordingly, Yapily is providing its partners with powerful infrastructure to boost their user experience, while remaining invisible behind the scenes, giving customers complete control.

The Germany office will be led by Chris Scheuermann, the newly appointed Commercial Lead for the region. Scheuermann has long-standing experience in the sector, having worked for PayPal and finleap. Going forward, Yapily plans to expand its presence in the region and grow its local team.

__Stefano Vaccino, Founder and CEO of Yapily, said:__ “Germany is a source of innovation and has always been a key hub for banking and financial services. We are looking forward to starting operations in this market, bringing our first-class API infrastructure to the region. With this strategic market entry we will further drive open banking adoption and its benefits to financial sectors including payments, lending and accounting software”. 

Yapily uniquely facilitates connectivity with European banks to access open banking data, with more than 80% bank coverage. Using a single open API, Yapily’s clients in Germany can now access the financial data they need to enrich the end-user experience. From aggregating, categorising and enriching account information, to initiating payments and transactions, businesses gain the visibility to offer personalised financial products and services. Yapily enables companies to connect and access financial information in payments, lending and accounting software. It boasts Fortune 500 companies and fast growth fintechs across Europe including American Express, IBM, BUX and GoCardless.

__Chris Scheuermann,  Commercial Lead DACH at Yapily, added:__ “Yapily offers market leading technology that is ahead of the competition, due to its "Open API first" approach. With no screen scraping or reverse engineering, this ensures all parties are getting the performance, scale, and security expected of such a critical piece of API infrastructure. We are pleased to bring this innovation to the German marketplace and I’m looking forward to building a local team of leading experts”.  

As part of the German market expansion, Yapily is deploying a local team and API platform that will strengthen the capabilities of domestic players in Open Banking to power any financial application and provide access to a global network of industry leading experts. The expansion lends support to the emerging interest in Open Banking and API innovation and fosters connections with the UK ecosystem. Yapily is backed by Holtzbrinck Ventures, LocalGlobe and leading European VC firm Lakestar, an early investor in Skype, Spotify, Airbnb and Facebook as well as some of Europe’s biggest fintechs – Klarna and Revolut.


Yapily further expands its operations and launches in Germany

Yapily further expands its operations and launches in Germany. Lead by Chris Scheuermann, Yapily continues to consolidate its position as the backbone of Open Banking in Europe. 

The lending industry is key to growth and support in many sectors. However, there are many inefficiencies in the process for lenders and their customers. Innovating and exploring [Open Banking connectivity](https://yapily.com), will enhance the availability and facilitation of credit.

## What is wrong with the current lending processes?

As a consumer or business, applying for a loan or credit can be time consuming and difficult. When applying for a mortgage or loan, printing out statements and waiting for the bank to make a decision can be frustrating and the amount of manual work that remains part of the process, can slow it down significantly.

Another issue in the lending industry is the use of traditional data sources such as credit scores, which hinders the lenders ability to accurately assess applicants. Lenders are also reliant on the data which the consumer provides through online forms. Therefore lenders are not able to provide applicants with the correct or most effective financial product for their situation. 

A study by uSwitch found that the proportion of those turned down or offered poorer rates is as high as 57% for 18-34 year olds. Not to mention businesses, in the current economy there is a continuous fear that without support, many businesses will be forced to shut down.

## How could lenders use Open Banking today?

__AIS - Account information services can be used to link lenders to customers financial data that is held by banks.__

Using AIS would allow customers to give lenders consent to access financial information directly from the account held by banks, through [Open Banking APIs](https://yapily.com). Having access to personal data, spending habits and transaction data for each individual customer, would allow lenders to personalise loans specifically to each individual or business. 

In some cases, lending decisions could be automated based on the data that is shared via Open Banking. Whereby [data enrichment](https://www.yapily.com/blog/data-enrichment-in-open-banking/) or categorisation would allow for easier affordability assessments and financial profiling. Lenders would no longer be forced to make decisions based on generalised or out of date data sets, but on accurate real time data. 

Open Banking connections are also extremely helpful for lenders looking to assess those with thin credit files. This is partly due to some 18-34 year olds having never received a loan, credit card, mortgage etc, so they would find it hard to be approved for credit. Using Open Banking would allow lenders to access the available financial data on individuals with thin credit files, allowing them to assess each applicant more effectively. This could open up loans to those who may have been denied credit previously due to their lack of credit history.

__PIS - Payment initiation services can be used to reduce fees on payments and increase speed significantly.__

Lenders predominantly accept card payments and direct debits when consumers are paying off their debt, which of course, carry a transaction fee for each payment. Open Banking payments could offer much lower transaction fees which would reduce the total amount lenders pay when receiving repayments. These cost savings could be reinvested into innovative lending options, increasing consumer choice and enhancing the efficiency of the lending process.

However, saving on fees is not the only benefit. Speed of transaction is also another benefit of Open Banking payments. Without the need for middlemen or card payment providers, [Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/solutions/payments) are bank to bank, meaning there is no delay in receiving payments and could dramatically improve the reconciliation process. This would allow lenders to balance the books more efficiently, consumers would not have to wait for funds to clear or show in their account, it could happen instantly.

To find out more about Open Banking payments and the benefits that they have on various industries, [download our free payments ebook here.](https://yapily.com/payments-ebook)

In summary, lenders who utilise Open Banking effectively will not only increase profitability and decrease risk, but will offer fairer and more accurate financial products for their customers. With Covid-19 destroying businesses and forcing millions into difficult financial positions, sustainable and effective lending will be relied upon to kickstart the economy. Open Banking is the key to enabling the innovation needed within the lending industry.


Why lenders need Open Banking 

The lending industry is under immense pressure and Open Banking could provide a well needed shake up. Making financial data available for lenders to make better lending decisions and use Open Banking payments to reduce their costs.

__19 October 2020:__ Leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily has announced that it is working with BUX, Europe’s largest mobile broker. The new partnership will enable German users of BUX Zero to seamlessly fund their accounts and build an investment portfolio in a matter of seconds.

Through partnering with Yapily, BUX Zero customers can conveniently make deposits to their BUX Zero accounts from within their bank’s mobile banking app. Removing the friction involved in investing and opening access to bank accounts in Germany.

This partnership will allow German BUX Zero users to begin investing in the brands and companies they care about commission-free, in an easy, and intuitive way. With a simple and quick onboarding solution already in place, funding an account will now be equally as quick and simple.

Typically, German BUX Zero users funded their accounts through bank transfers; taking on average one working day to arrive. The integration of Yapily’s open banking API enables BUX Zero to enhance its customers’ experience by removing the friction, which speeds up the process in making deposits to their BUX Zero accounts. 

The new collaboration further consolidates Yapily’s position in Europe as the backbone of open banking, and the infrastructure that partners need in order to take advantage of the benefits that open finance will bring. By entering Germany, Yapily now has near total European coverage.  

__Nick Bortot, Founder & CEO of BUX said:__ “Efficiency and ease-of-use are at the core of the BUX Zero investing experience, and by introducing Yapily’s API technology to our platform, we will make the account funding experience even simpler for our German clients. With our zero-commission offering, rapid onboarding process and seamless user-experience, we are constantly innovating to make the investing experience smoother for our clients who are digital natives. This new generation of investors requires an investing experience that fits their mobile-first lifestyle, and BUX Zero is at the forefront of providing a better solution for retail investors. As BUX Zero continues to expand across Europe, partnering with Yapily will allow us to adapt to local markets more efficiently. 

__Stefano Vaccino, CEO of Yapily said:__ “Drawing on our technical expertise, we’ve been able to provide BUX’s German customers with a better customer experience and greater control over their finances. We are integrated with 80% of Germany’s banks; which enables us to provide companies like BUX with the infrastructure they need in order to provide the benefits of open banking to users beyond their native market. 

“Through partnering with BUX, we’re continuing our mission to further expand the reach of open banking across Europe. We believe open banking will enable fairer and better financial products and services for all. And we’re pleased to have found a partner in BUX who believes the same. We look forward to a long partnership and underpinning future products and services which can fuel greater financial accessibility.”

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__About Yapily (yapily.com)__
Yapily is an enterprise connectivity platform, enabling companies to seamlessly access users’ financial data. Powering a new era of financial services, Yapily empowers people around the world to receive faster, affordable and personalised products. The company has raised $18m funding to date, and over the last six months monthly recurring revenue has grown over 500%.

__About BUX (getbux.com)__
BUX makes it easy and affordable for Europeans to do more with their money. Since launching in 2014, BUX has made the markets accessible for young investors across 9 countries in Europe. BUX currently offers 3 apps that allow users to explore the financial markets including BUX Zero, the flagship platform that is making commission-free investing possible, allowing users to invest in the brands and companies they care about. BUX Zero is currently available in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France and Belgium. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the company is backed by Holtzbrinck Ventures, Velocity Capital, Orange Growth Capital and Initial Capital.


BUX and Yapily enable German users to invest in seconds

Leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily has announced that it is working with BUX, Europe’s largest mobile broker. The new partnership will enable German users of BUX Zero to seamlessly fund accounts and build an investment portfolio in seconds.

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