[Open Banking](https://yapily.com) is transforming the way we do financial services, and Yapily is on a mission to provide the greatest coverage in France. So we’re pleased to announce that our API is now available for local fintechs and businesses in France, providing seamless and secure access to financial data and [payment infrastructure](https://yapily.com/solutions/payments). This enables companies to expand their offering to French customers, while leveraging the opportunities of [Open Banking](https://yapily.com/what-is-open-banking) to create new and innovative products.

France is already home to more than 1,200 innovative fintech companies including the likes of Epsor, Joko and Pennylane. We expect to see continued growth in payment providers and accountancy software companies that will inevitably drive further use and adoption of [Open Banking services](https://yapily.com). The potential is huge as we all navigate out of the pandemic, the need for further digitalisation is clear and Open Banking can pave the way to success for many businesses. 

France uses the ‘STET’ API standard, which is not to be confused with neighbouring countries that use the Berlin Group standard. As it stands the STET API standard supports current accounts and credit cards. When we building out coverage in France we built specific solutions to support:

### Pagination

There was no pagination implemented, so we've added our own solution. Effectively this meant putting pages into transaction responses for multiple pages of customer transactions, as opposed to having to call for pages of transactions separately. We also implemented a bespoke pagination for La Banque Postale. Typically La Banque Postale only returns 200 transactions for any 90 day period, but we have built functionality to check for this behaviour and then call for any additional transactions inside the given dates. This ensures that if there are more than 200 transactions present within a 90 day period they will all be returned to our clients.

### Consent flow

The consent flows for various banks in France only have consent access for between 30mins - 24-hours rather than traditional 90 days. We have developed a technical solution to this, where we refresh the refresh token at the interval required, so we can always generate access tokens whenever we need them. This prevents the need for re-authentication within such short time periods.

### Where next?

Now that we have developed great [Open Banking connectivity](https://yapily.com) in France, we will be looking to build our connectivity in Austria and into the Nordic regions!


The Yapily platform is live in France!

France is already home to more than 1,200 innovative fintech companies. We expect to see continued growth in payment providers and accountancy software companies that will inevitably drive further use and adoption of Open Banking services.

Gender diversity is a very important issue and at Yapily, we want to encourage as many women as we can to be a part of, what we believe, is an exciting fast growth sector. We interviewed some of the amazing women at Yapily, to share why they chose tech!

Despite the pandemic, the UK technology industry has continued to prosper. According to Tech Nation, the UK technology industry is worth over [£10 billion](https://technation.io/news/2019-a-record-year-for-uk-tech/#:~:text=%C3%97-,UK%20tech%20sector%20beats%20both%20US%20and,lead%20global%20growth%20in%202019&text=In%20what%20was%20another%20record,highest%20level%20in%20UK%20history.) and employs around 3 million people - very impressive statistics. However, just [19%](https://technation.io/insights/diversity-and-inclusion-in-uk-tech-companies/) of those employees are women! Gender diversity is a very important issue and at Yapily, we want to encourage as many women as we can to be a part of, what we believe, is an exciting fast growth sector.

Over the last week, we decided to interview some of the amazing women who work in our team, to gain insight into what they love about tech and why they chose to pursue a career in it. 

### Elizabeth Prendergast - Software Engineer

My first introduction to tech was an ‘Introduction to Programming’ course I had to take in my first year of university - I hated it! It wasn’t until I began working in consulting that I really started to get interested in technology. I slowly started getting involved in more technical consulting projects and started teaching myself how to code during my evenings and weekends. I fell in love with coding, and eventually I realised that I was enjoying it more than my actual work, so I decided to make the switch to software engineering. I quit my consulting job and enrolled in a 15 week coding bootcamp before starting with Yapily in February 2020. I’ve never looked back!

I love tech for so many reasons. It's such a fast-paced industry, so you never stop learning and never get bored. I live for that “rush” that you experience when you finally solve a really challenging problem or bug. I also really enjoy working with the people. Many people in tech end up here from a variety of backgrounds, so I find it incredibly refreshing to work with people who have so many different life experiences. 

### Meryem Alay - Technical Lead

Everything started at university. I remember the first code I wrote, thinking I was accomplishing something great. Especially when I first saw the command line, I was in love! I thought I was a hacker when I used the command line. I was sure during my university years that I would be a software developer.

When I got into business life, I realised that software development is not just about computers; human relations were as important as software development. This was also something I enjoyed. I still do my job very fondly. If I were born again, I would be a software developer. 

### Simona Matei - Software Engineer

In school my favourite subjects were always maths and sciences. I wrote my first lines of code when I was 10 as part of a Computer Science club I joined mostly so I could play computer games with my friends. I liked it and kept learning to program and by the time I went to university, studying Computer Science felt like the most natural thing to do. I went to study abroad and was one of the 20 or so female students in the Computer Science school at the time, from a total of over 200 students, but weirdly gender was never a factor in my career decision. I never even questioned it from a gender perspective simply because I never thought there were things that boys could do, that girls couldn't. If anything, the gender inequality just fuelled my determination.

These days I work as a back-end developer in a startup and I still love it, for plenty of reasons. It's one of the most exciting, fast-paced jobs out there! Literally every day brings new challenges, new things to learn, new puzzles to solve, sometimes you have to find solutions no one has ever come up with before. It requires creativity and a lot of curiosity. You get to work with a lot of talented individuals and genuinely impact people's lives with the tools that you build. Tech also offers a lot of opportunities, from the variety of industries, roles and environments you can work in, to being able to travel the world doing it. It's not always an easy job, sometimes it takes hours or days to make something work, but those "Aha!" moments are the best and they usually teach you the most.

### Becky Danks - Product Manager

My academic background is in research sciences, so I guess I’ve always loved knowing how things work, but never got into coding or computer engineering. Instead I first came across the world of tech from product roles in my graduate scheme at Nationwide Building Society. I’ve always had so many ideas about creating exciting products that customers would love. But, I quickly realised that in order to actually build those products, I needed to understand more about the technology behind it. For me, coding and engineering is all about the products you can create, and I love tech because it’s what takes a great idea from concept to reality.

Since joining Yapily, I’ve learnt so much about software engineering and Elizabeth (mentioned above) has been teaching me how to code. We try to catch up every fortnight and I have learnt so much about how things work! Last week I wrote my first script to make some (very small) production changes, and it was an amazing feeling. I’m not an engineer but learning the basics has definitely made me a better product manager. 

---

We all have a part to play in tackling the lack of diversity and inclusion in our industry. Hopefully you, or someone you know will find these stories interesting and inspiring. If you do find yourself reading this and think you know someone who would benefit from this too, please share this article with them. We appreciate your support, thank you.


Supporting women in tech

UK Finance released its recommendations for the future of the OBIE and our Public Policy and Compliance lead has prepared a two part series exploring what has happened since the introduction of the OBIE and what should come next.

Following a CMA investigation into UK’s retail banking and the introduction of the Second European Payment Services Directive ([PSD2](https://www.yapily.com/blog/psd2-screenscraping-apis/)), the CMA mandated that the nine largest banks in the UK to open up their customer data to third party providers (TPPs) via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) - and assuming they’ve received consent from the end users to access their data. 

Industry and commentators heralded a new era for financial services in the UK. Banking was about to become more consumer-centric and end-users would take back ownership and control over their own data. The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) was created to support these objectives by developing software standards and industry guidelines to drive competition and innovation in UK retail banking.

The legal and funding structure of the entity were appropriately designed to ensure independence. Overseen by the CMA, the OBIE’s mission was to work with the industry to develop a platform to help propel [Open Banking](https://yapily.com) forward. Banks were asked to pay for the set-up of the entity to avoid adding unduly costs on newly established small firms. 

So has the OBIE delivered on its promise? Yes, it absolutely has been an enabler to driving the discussion forward and setting a level playing field for both incumbents and start-ups alike. The UK is currently seen as a global leader in the area of [Open Banking](https://yapily.com/blog/what-is-open-banking) and other countries are holding discussions on how best to imitate OBIE’s structure and success.

Since its inception, the OBIE has successfully delivered:
- the design of the specifications for the APIs that banks and building societies use to securely provide Open Banking
- the creation of security and messaging standards
- the Open Banking Directory which allows participants to enrol in Open Banking
- guidelines for participants in the Open Banking ecosystem
- a process for managing disputes and complaints

The industry has widely adopted the standards set by OBIE and consumers have built confidence in using Open Banking services. OBIE figures show open banking user numbers have doubled since January 2020. There has been a steady increase at a rate of around 160,000 users per month. So what did the OBIE get so right? Amongst others, the key elements that have contributed to OBIE’s success are:

__Independence:__ the OBIE was set-up as a private entity with its own governance, composition and budget. This meant that it could set its policy direction without being influenced by either regulators or larger banks. 

__Consultation:__ the OBIE consulted extensively with both experts and the industry before designing API specifications and developing its roadmap. This ensured that connectivity to banks was smoother and consistent across the UK, leveling the playing field for new players. 

__Security:__ the OBIE focused much of its efforts in ensuring that Open Banking activities are secure thus building consumer trust. Banks were asked to build mechanisms that would verify a TPP’s regulatory certificate to minimise the possibility of fraudulent activity. It also took considerable steps in educating end users and other stakeholders on the (security) benefits of using Open banking. 

Going forward, both industry and regulators have their eyes on the formation of the future OBIE that will move Open Banking from set-up mode to a mature ecosystem that fosters innovation. The signs are very positive and we consider that a lot of the elements of the old OBIE should also feature in the future entity. 

[Read the second part of this series here.](https://www.yapily.com/blog/regulatory-spotlight-open-finance-and-the-tale-of-two-obies-part-ii-of-ii/)


The Former OBIE

In the second part of this two-part regulatory spotlight series, Andria Evripidou explores the the future of Open Banking and Open Finance regulation. What future entity will watch over the ecosystem and ensure a competitive yet innovative market. 

Three years since its introduction and the future of [Open Banking](https://yapily.com) is the topic of conversation for European regulators. And globally, regulators are trying to replicate the EU’s PSD2 and follow in the footsteps of the UK in paving the way for [Open Finance](https://www.yapily.com/blog/3-examples-of-what-open-finance-can-do-right-now/). Undoubtedly, Open Banking is the first step on the road to Open Finance. The question remains as to what Europe’s regulators’ next move is in this marathon race. And how will it be achieved through the ‘Future Entity’?

[In our previous article](https://www.yapily.com/blog/regulatory-spotlight-open-finance-and-the-tale-of-two-obies-part-i-of-ii/) we explored the inception and development of the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) - an entity that looked into successfully implementing Open Banking standards in the UK. We acknowledged the impact the formation has had on the ecosystem, with [more than 3 million users now actively engaged with open banking solutions](https://www.openbanking.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/OBIE-Highlights-January-2021.pdf). The OBIE has positioned the UK as a global leader in this area and many countries around the world are looking to imitate the UK model.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recently launched a consultation on the future of this entity. This is a reasonable and welcomed development in light of the enormous developments in the industry and changes in competitive dynamics. The proposals made by the CMA reflect a number of lessons taken from the first implementation phase and recognise the dynamic changes we have experienced in the past 5 years. 

The principles set by the CMA for the future entity are clearly forward looking and reflect the elements that have supported the success of the initial OBIE (independence, funded by participants, monitoring undertaken by a separate body). These elements ensure industry buy-in and bring everyone together to collaborate and develop technical standards and security requirements to ensure smooth connectivity and consistent consumer journeys. 

### The mission of the future entity 

After five years of open banking experience, the proposed mission for the future entity is informed by the state of the Open Banking ecosystem. It prioritises end-user outcomes while positioning itself at the heart of the Open Data and [Payments](https://yapily.com/solutions/payments) market. Open Finance is at the forefront of the regulator’s focus, making it imperative for the interplay between Open Banking and Open Finance to be well planned and understood. 

Compared to 2016, the user experience has significantly improved and - with the global impact of COVID-19 - has encouraged user journeys to become frictionless.  There is, however, still some way to go for the consumer experience to be optimised. The mission proposed by the CMA for the OBIE is a clear nod from the regulator that it appreciates and acknowledges the importance of these two elements in maintaining the UK’s leadership position in this area.

To achieve its mission, the future OBIE becomes equipped with a set of well defined requirements: hold and maintain technical standards, provide the core services required, enable regulatory compliance for the industry and be an effective escalation and resolution mechanism. From an industry perspective, achieving the latter two objectives will be key in supporting the ecosystem’s proper functioning going forward. 

Monitoring and surveillance was understandably more laxed at the initial phases of the OBIE. The industry needed time to adopt and implement the open banking standards. Some players were more agile in adopting these standards quicker than others with more inflexible IT infrastructure. Going forward, to maintain trust in the ecosystem and ensure that there is a level playing field for everyone, stricter surveillance and monitoring will become critical. 

### The funding model of Open Banking 

Underpinning the sustainability of the OBIE is its funding model. In its initial phase, the CMA asked the nine largest banks in the UK to fund the creation of this entity. This was an effective decision in ensuring that smaller players in the ecosystem were not unduly penalised for the implementation of a remedy on the incumbents. The CMA is now considering whether the time has arrived for TPPs to start bearing part of the cost of the OBIE. 

In principle, this is reasonable and should be considered within the right parameters such as the services that TPPs will receive and the future types of APIs e.g premium APIs. Is now the right time? Given the imminent implementation of Open Finance and that Open Banking is still a relatively new and fragile ecosystem, a more opportune timing for reviewing the funding structure of the OBIE could be following the implementation of Open Finance. 

There is no doubt that the future of the OBIE is bright and will enable competition and innovation in financial markets. Both industry and regulators have learned a great deal from the set-up phase and are looking to develop a sustainable and effective framework for the future of this entity. Together with Open Finance, we can all expect a major revolution in the world of financial services. 


Open Finance and The Future of OBIE

Bank account aggregation is a powerful tool that enables end users to collate all of their financial data into one application. Enhancing financial visibility, account aggregation can extend to credit cards, mortgages, loans and bank accounts.

Account aggregation is a term used to describe the process whereby an end user can effectively view and manage all of their bank accounts, investment accounts and credit cards in one place. Applications that allow account aggregation make it easier for users to analyse and assess their full financial profile, which will aid them in making more accurate spending, saving or credit decisions. 

## How does bank account aggregation work?

Third party providers (TPPs) that offer bank account aggregation are effectively consolidating users' financial data in one place. Powered by [Open Banking](https://yapily.com), companies can get access to users' financial data, with their consent, directly from their bank using AIS (account information services). AIS facilitates retrieval of balances, identity, transactions and other user specific bank data.

For third parties to be able to access this data, they would require the user’s consent. Consents usually last up to 90 days before needing to be renewed, however users have complete control and can revoke access at any time. You can read more about Open Banking security in our ‘[Is Open Banking safe?](https://www.yapily.com/blog/is-open-banking-safe/)’ article.

Once the TPP has the user’s consent, they can utilise the financial data directly from the bank to create or offer products and services. There are varying licensing requirements for businesses looking to present the information back to a customer via an interface or if they’re looking to only use the information behind the scenes (an example of this is for a loan application). If you are looking to use Open Banking to power your application our team would be happy to help, [contact us here.](https://www.yapily.com/company/get-started)

## What is possible with account aggregation?

Simply put, if a user or business has more than one bank account or financial product then account aggregation will make it easier for them to manage their finances. By linking all of their different bank accounts or credit cards, users will be able to access information for all of them in one application. This provides a much smoother customer experience than logging into a variety of apps or online portals to access financial information. 

Businesses that offer account aggregation may also offer a variety of additional products and services. Personal finance management (PFM) and [accounting software](https://www.yapily.com/solutions/accounting/) solutions are becoming more popular and account aggregation usually is the driving force behind them. PFMs allow users to track their finances in a more analytical way than ever before. Rather than just looking at a list of transactions, users are presented with more data around income, spending and savings. Whereas accounting software is usually used by SMEs, to manage cash flow and general accounting.

### PFMs

Thanks to the amount of data available through [Open Banking](https://yapily.com/blog/what-is-open-banking), users of PFM applications are able to access personalised offers on loans, credit cards and various accounts based on their full financial profile. Instead of companies relying on outdated or inaccurate credit scores, users with thin credit files or no history at all may be able to access affordable credit thanks to Open Banking and account aggregation. You can find out more in our blog about [Open Banking for lending](https://www.yapily.com/blog/lenders-need-open-banking/).

Outside of lending, PFMs enable users to identify fraudulent transactions and more insight into where a user could potentially save money. This could be on their utility bills, insurance or mobile phone contract. Having access to the financial data, PFMs can automatically identify products and services that would enable users to save money.

### Accounting software

SMEs using accounting software that enables them to aggregate their bank accounts, will benefit from easier cash flow management and reconciliation. The insights that accounting software can provide across accounts will simplify processes and reduce the time spent moving or managing money across the business. SMEs can also manage their payroll and invoicing with [Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/solutions/payments), providing the option to streamline business processes within one application. 

What is account aggregation?

As expected, 2021 is meant to bring us closer to the normal that we know and have missed throughout last year. It also promises to bring increased levels of innovation in the financial services sector, supported by the further development of [Open Banking](https://yapily.com). Use cases are becoming more evident and the benefits of innovation are now clear in a time where accessibility and control are of paramount importance to businesses and consumers. Here is what we expect you will see more of this year:

## Further use of account information to develop broader product offerings

Financial products and services are already changing dramatically thanks to the information and payment infrastructure unlocked by Open Banking. However, 2021 is set to bring further change to the market through increased adoption and innovation. Expect there to be a broader range of products and services on offer for those who are willing to consent to third parties accessing their [financial data for lending](https://www.yapily.com/solutions/lending/) and other financial services, or for those looking to pay by bank.

Lending and credit worthiness assessments will dramatically change, whereby consumers' financial data will unlock hyper-personalised lending options and provide lenders with more confidence to lend - in a time where lending may be relied upon for the well needed boost in the economy. Loans that are tailored to an individual or business based on their actual financial profile, will mean a higher variation in interest rates and levels of credit. Find out more about how Open Banking unlocks [financial data for lending](https://www.yapily.com/blog/lenders-need-open-banking/).

As Open Banking develops further towards [Open Finance](https://www.yapily.com/blog/3-examples-of-what-open-finance-can-do-right-now/) - increased availability of credit card, savings and mortgage data would enable lenders to make more accurate credit worthiness assessments. This data could also be utilised by PFM applications using account aggregation, giving businesses and consumers full visibility of their financial products and services.

## Increased adoption of Open Banking payment solutions

[Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/open-banking/payments) are already providing a well needed solution to the unnecessary fees charged and user experience challenges that card payments cause. You can read more on [fraud and UX challenges with card payments](https://www.yapily.com/blog/how-open-banking-payments-can-improve-ux-and-prevent-card-fraud/) here.

Businesses such as investment platforms are currently enabling consumers to use Open Banking to top up their online wallets/accounts. Yapily partner Moneyfarm, have already seen great success with this - after just three weeks [1 in 5 transactions were being processed through Open Banking](https://www.yapily.com/blog/moneyfarm-sees-20-of-transfers-use-open-banking-in-first-three-weeks/). 

Ecommerce businesses are going to see the largest benefit in 2021, in the form of enhanced checkout processes and reverse payments. Open Banking powered payments are currently underused by the market, considering the increasing number of customers that rely on digital payments. Reducing transaction fees and improving customer experience will be key in the transformation and adoption of Open Banking payments for the ecommerce industry. In addition to checkouts, refund processes will be revolutionised by reverse payments. Putting businesses in the driving seat, so that the customer does not have to wait days (sometimes weeks) for their refund.
Read more about the [benefits of Open Banking payments for ecommerce businesses](https://www.yapily.com/blog/4-ways-open-banking-payments-can-help-ecommerce-businesses/).

But these successes are not the only opportunities available when using [Open Banking](https://yapily.com). [Bulk payments](https://www.yapily.com/blog/open-banking-bulk-payments/) are already here, helping many businesses process payroll and payment runs via their accountancy platform. VRP (variable recurring payments) are also very close to being introduced and will unlock a variety of ways in which businesses can utilise the benefits of [Open Banking payments](https://yapily.com/open-banking/payments) to rival direct debits and more. 2021 is a very exciting year and with the examples of success from last year, we expect to see increased adoption and further innovation.


What to expect from Open Banking in 2021

Open Banking is quickly becoming more mainstream and in 2021 adoption is set to increase dramatically. From payments to financial information, Open Banking will change financial services for the better.

__London, UK, 27 January 2021:__ Leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily has today announced that Iain McDougall has joined the executive team as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). 

Iain brings over two decades of experience in leading the global expansion of high-growth technology companies, most recently at Stripe and Google, and will help drive Yapily’s mission to become the leading infrastructure platform for [Open Banking](https://yapily.com) across Europe and beyond. 

Yapily has a unique position in the Open Banking market, focussed solely on pure infrastructure to enable its clients -  businesses from scaleups to enterprise - to build Open Banking enabled products. 

Prior to joining Yapily, Iain was the Country Manager and Executive Director at Stripe, where he led the UK and Ireland as Stripe’s first and largest region outside the US. Playing a key role in defining Stripe’s strategy across Europe, Iain scaled and shaped teams to lead the business through periods of significant year-on-year growth. Prior to Stripe, Iain was the Head of Sales at Google Cloud in both the UK and Australia/New Zealand, where he played a key role in the early definition of the business before leading through periods of hyper-growth.

Iain joins the team with significant board level experience and demonstrative success in shaping culture and building teams. The appointment comes one month after [the company announced its Chief Operating Officer (COO), Martin Threakall](https://www.yapily.com/blog/yapily-appoints-new-coo-to-lead-european-expansion-and-supercharge-growth/), to lead Yapily’s European expansion. Prior to joining Yapily, Martin was Co-Founder and COO at Modulr, the leading Payments-as-a-Service platform.

Speaking about his appointment __Iain McDougall, Chief Commercial Officer for Yapily says,__ 
“I am incredibly excited to join Yapily at this pivotal moment for both the company and the industry. The opportunity for [Open Banking](https://yapily.com/what-is-open-banking) is immense. I see it very much, as where we were ten years ago with public cloud services - a generational change to the way an essential industry operates. And banking is just the start. The coming years will see similar transformations in terms of openness and transparency to many other industries. 

“Yapily is uniquely positioned to drive this change and capitalise on the opportunity through the purity of its technological approach. This is genuinely unique in the market and I could not be more delighted to be here.”

__Stefano Vaccino, Chief Executive Officer for Yapily says,__ “We are delighted to welcome Iain to the team. We are bringing together leading experts to supercharge Yapily’s growth and Iain’s  experience in global expansion and building strong like-minded teams, will help Yapily scale to new heights this year.”

The announcement comes as Yapily consolidates its position as the backbone of Open Banking across Europe, having recently launched its third European office in Lithuania. As well as announcing a number of strategic partnerships in 2020, including American Express, Moneyfarm and BUX.

---

__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 ex-Stripe & Google exec as new CCO to boost rapid growth across Europe

Leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily has today announced that Iain McDougall has joined the executive team as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). 

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.

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