The Open Banking Implementation (OBIE) has today launched a consultation on version 3.1.9 of the OBIE Standard. This represents the next stage in the development of open banking in the UK. This versions includes updates on: A2(b)(iii) – Consent and Access Dashboards A10 – Sweeping, with specific focus on third party guidance when using variable recurring payments for sweeping Amendments to API & MI specifications resulting from changes requests & known defects Various Trustee actions The OBIE welcomes responses to the consultation from all interested parties. The consultation process will take place between the 16th August and 3rd September 2021. The OBIE is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, 24th August at 13:00, to talk through v3.1.9 artefacts and explain the consultation process in more detail. If you wish to join this session, please register via Eventbrite here. Written consultation responses are due by midday on 3rd September Please submit one response per organisation for each artefact. Responses are deemed to be non-confidential. Consultation responses will be reviewed, and the responses published, before the September Implementation Entity Steering Group meeting Links to the draft version 3.1.9 of the OBIE Standard & feedback pages API specification ASPSP MI Specifications & Change Log TPP MI Specifications & Change Log Customer Experience Guidelines & Change Log Guidance for TPPs on use of VRPs for sweeping Feedback pages In addition to the above we would like to inform the ecosystem that we have updated the Variable Recurring Payment Proposition to include the agreed definition of Sweeping. If you experience any issues accessing any of these links, please raise a ticket via the Service Desk Portal (if you have access) https://openbanking.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1 or email the ServiceDesk@openbanking.org.uk and we can organise access. All other queries can be directed to press@openbanking.org.uk – – – ENDS – – – For further information, please contact: press@openbanking.org.uk About Us Open banking is a new, secure way for customers to take control of their financial data and share it with organisations other than their banks. Open banking has the power to revolutionise the way we move, manage and make more of our money. For businesses, it is about making the management of cash flow and receiving payments cheaper and easier. Open banking will make things simpler, faster and more convenient. The OBIE follows the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into the supply of personal current accounts (PCAs) and of banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The OBIE was created to enable innovation, transparency and competition in UK financial services. It is tasked with delivering the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures and security architectures that will enable developers to harness technology, making it easy and safe for individuals and SMEs to share the financial information held by their banks with third parties. Open banking will bring substantial benefits. It gives customers and SMEs greater market choice and greater control over their money and associated data, along with better and easier access to new financial services providers in a secure environment. Notes to Editors: The OBIE was set up by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in September 2016 to fulfil one of the remedies mandated by the CMA following an investigation into UK retail banking. The CMA’s investigation into the retail banking market (whose findings were published in August 2016) concluded that older and larger banks do not compete hard enough for customers’ business and that open banking should deliver a new, secure option for customers to be able to compare the deal they are getting from their bank. The OBIE was created to enable innovation, transparency and competition to UK financial services. It is tasked with delivering the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures and security architectures that will make it easy and safe for customers to share their financial records by January 2018. The data provided by open banking will enable developers to harness technology that allows individuals and businesses to share their financial records held by their banks with third parties. The OBIE is a private body; its governance, composition and budget was determined by the CMA. It is funded by the UK’s nine largest current account providers and overseen by the CMA, the Financial Conduct Authority and Her Majesty’s Treasury. The 9 mandated institutions (referred to as the CMA9) are: Barclays plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Santander, Danske, HSBC, RBS, Bank of Ireland, Nationwide and AIBG.
The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is delighted to learn that the CMA has decided, in line with the Trustee’s recommendations to mandate Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) as the mechanism for implementing sweeping. The CMA today published a letter to the Implementation Trustee that stated: “Making effective provision for sweeping is an important element of the open banking remedy and it is important that sweeping provisions include the ability to move funds out of current accounts into accounts earning a higher rate of interest, and conversely enables customers to access alternative and cheaper sources of short-term credit.” Simply put, sweeping is the automatic transfer of money between a customer’s own accounts, such as moving excess funds into a separate savings account or using them to repay a loan or overdraft account. VRPs allow customers to safely connect authorised payments providers to their bank account so that they can make payments on the customer’s behalf within agreed parameters that offer more control and transparency than existing alternatives. This decision means that the largest UK current account providers will have to implement VRPs within the next six months and allow free access to third party providers who are using VRPs to enable their customers to move money from their current accounts to other accounts. Commenting on the CMA’s decision, OBIE’s Implementation Trustee Imran Gulamhuseinwala OBE said: “The CMA’s decision in line with OBIE’s advice, is a win for competition and innovation, which will deliver significant benefits to consumers and small businesses. We’ve been anticipating a decision from the CMA on this for some time now and have been on standby to implement this by the end of this year. The OBIE will now mandate Variable Recurring Payments for the purpose of sweeping, which is the automatic movement of money between an account holder’s different accounts. We like to think of it as the smarter version of direct debit payments. This is a major step forward in payments, giving consumers more control over their money whilst also protecting them from incurring unwanted fees. It will, for example, allow surplus money to be automatically transferred from a current account to a savings account to help build a savings pot or to an overdraft or loan account to help the customer keep their borrowing costs to a minimum. We are especially delighted as this is the last major piece of functionality to be delivered under the CMA’s open banking remedies. Over the past five years, we have built a thriving open banking ecosystem that already benefits nearly 4 million people and is growing rapidly. We look forward to the outcome of the CMA’s consultation on the future governance of open banking, which we hope will allow us to continue delivering world-leading innovation to the benefit of consumers, SMEs and the industry.” – – – ENDS – – – For further information, please contact: press@openbanking.org.uk About Us The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is the entity set up by the CMA in 2016 to deliver open banking. Its trading name is Open Banking Limited. The OBIE is governed by the CMA and funded by the CMA9 (Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, Natwest Group and Santander). Its works with the CMA 9, as well as challenger banks, financial technology companies, third party providers and consumer groups. The OBIE’s role is to: Enforce the obligations on the CMA9 under the CMA Order Design the specifications for the Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) that banks and building societies use to securely provide open banking Support regulated third party providers and banks and building societies to use the OBIE’s open banking standards Create security and messaging standards Manage the OBIE’s open banking Directory which allows regulated participants like banks, building societies and third-party providers to enrol in open banking Produce guidelines for participants in the open banking ecosystem Set out the process for managing disputes and complaints
The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) today publishes two documents following the conclusion of the second phase of its consultation on Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) and Sweeping. These documents are: VRP and Sweeping User Research Final Report Phase II Feedback Summary and OBIE Response Paper This consultation process was started in November 2020. Feedback from the first phase was published in January 2021. Following this consultation process, the OBIE published version 3.1.8 of its Open Banking Standard, which includes VRP functionality. The OBIE will conclude its evaluation of Sweeping in the Summer of 2021. – – – ENDS – – – For further information, please contact: press@openbanking.org.uk About Us The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is the entity set up by the CMA in 2016 to deliver open banking. Its trading name is Open Banking Limited. The OBIE is governed by the CMA and funded by the CMA 9 (Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, Natwest Group and Santander). Its works with the CMA 9, as well as challenger banks, financial technology companies, third party providers and consumer groups. The OBIE’s role is to: Enforce the obligations on the CMA 9 under the CMA Order Design the specifications for the Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) that banks and building societies use to securely provide open banking Support regulated third party providers and banks and building societies to use the OBIE’s Open Banking Standards Create security and messaging standards Manage the OBIE’s open banking Directory which allows regulated participants like banks, building societies and third-party providers to enrol in open banking Produce guidelines for participants in the open banking ecosystem Set out the process for managing disputes and complaints
Version 3.1.8 of the OBIE Standard introduces major new functionality, specifically Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs). The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is pleased to announce the publication of Version 3.1.8. of the OBIE Standard. This is a significant enhancement to version 3.1.7, which was released in December 2020. While it does not introduce any breaking changes (hence it remains technically a patch release), it does include the addition of VRP functionality. VRPs are an emerging and novel way for customers to securely instruct and manage payments via open banking. Customers can provide consent to a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) for a series of payments, without the need for the customer to authenticate each individual payment with their bank or account provider. VRPs, therefore, open up new forms of financial automation, improved end-user experiences, and greater levels of consumer transparency and control. For firms looking to implement this latest version of the OBIE standard, please see the following links for further details: VRP Proposition API Specifications v3.1.8 Customer Experience Guidelines v3.1.8 MI Specifications v3.1.8 – – – ENDS – – – For further information, please contact: press@openbanking.org.uk About Us The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is the entity set up by the CMA in 2016 to deliver open banking. Its trading name is Open Banking Limited. The OBIE is governed by the CMA and funded by the CMA 9 (Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, Natwest Group and Santander). Its works with the CMA 9, as well as challenger banks, financial technology companies, third party providers and consumer groups. The OBIE’s role is to: Enforce the obligations on the CMA 9 under the CMA Order Design the specifications for the Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) that banks and building societies use to securely provide open banking Support regulated third party providers and banks and building societies to use the OBIE’s Open Banking Standards Create security and messaging standards Manage the OBIE’s open banking Directory which allows regulated participants like banks, building societies and third-party providers to enrol in open banking Produce guidelines for participants in the open banking ecosystem Set out the process for managing disputes and complaints
The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) has today published its consultation on Confirmation of Payee (CoP) and the Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code and its implications for open banking payment journeys. The OBIE welcomes stakeholder views on the CoP / CRM Consultation paper via its online Consultation Survey. CoP/ CRM Consultation paper CoP and CRM Proposition paper CoP CRM Implications for OBIE R/W API Standards A further Preliminary Analysis paper is also being published, which sets out in more detail the preliminary findings from the consumer research commissioned exploring the effectiveness of warnings. This supplements the summary of findings presented in the Consultation Paper. The primary focus of our consultation is the content set out in the Consultation Paper. However, we have also produced a Draft Proposition Paper and an outlining of the potential implications for the API specification. We welcome observations on the recommendations set out in these too, via the relevant Confluence Feedback pages detailed below. Consultation Process Please submit feedback on the Consultation paper via the online Consultation Survey For the CoP and CRM Proposition paper and CoP CRM Implications for OBIE R/W API Standards, please provide any feedback via Confluence Feedback pages Please submit one response document per organisation. Responses are deemed to be non-confidential Consultation responses will be reviewed and OBIE will produce a summary of feedback which will be submitted to the Implementation Entity Steering Group for consideration in February 2021 We intend to launch a second phase of consultation shortly after the Implementation Entity Steering Group meeting The deadline for feedback for this consultation is 5pm, Monday, 1st March 2021 We are holding a consultation event on Wednesday 10th February 2021, please register here If you experience any issues accessing any of these links, please raise a ticket via the Service Desk Portal (if you have access) https://openbanking.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1 or email the ServiceDesk@openbanking.org.uk and we can organise access. -ENDS- About the Open Banking Implementation Entity: The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is the entity set up by the CMA in 2016 to deliver Open Banking. Its trading name is Open Banking Limited. OBIE is governed by the CMA and funded by the CMA9 (Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS Group and Santander). Its works with the CMA 9, as well as challenger banks, financial technology companies, third party providers and consumer groups. OBIE’s role is to: Enforce the obligations on the CMA9 under the CMA Order Design the specifications for the Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) that banks and building societies use to securely provide Open Banking Support regulated third party providers and banks and building societies to use the Open Banking standards Create security and messaging standards Manage the Open Banking Directory which allows regulated participants like banks, building societies and third-party providers to enrol in Open Banking Produce guidelines for participants in the Open Banking ecosystem Set out the process for managing disputes and complaints
The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is pleased to announce the publication of the Open Banking Standard, version 3.1.3 – including updates to the Read/Write API Specification and Customer Experience Guidelines (CEGs). This is a minor update to version 3.1.2 which was released in May 2019. Based on feedback from participants within the ecosystem, and latest regulatory references, this version provides clarifications to previous versions and introduces the following enhanced functionality, guidelines and features (arising from approved change requests) to enable further PSD2 compliance: Design changes for approved Change Requests (CRs): – CR OBSD 7602 – New data fields for accounts & direct debit endpoints. – CR OBSD 10018 – New data field ‘DebtorReference’ in the schedule payment endpoint. – CR OBSD 10196 – A conditional field ‘DestinationCountry’ in the international payment endpoints. – CR OBSD 10197 – A conditional field ‘ExtendedPurpose’ in the international payment endpoints. Minor amendments on the language for account-access-consents delete endpoint – to make this consistent with the CEGs The presentation of data access and consent details & requirement for ASPSPs with mobile-based channels Guidance on the usage of optional fields within data clusters. Redirection back to TPP when PSU does not proceed with authentication. Clarification on when account-access-consent resource must be deleted. Minor update relating to the display of balances for compliance with upcoming High Cost Credit regulations. Updates to general principles relating to obstacles in the authentication journey and access dashboards. There are 2 core elements to this version: Read/Write API Specification v3.1.3 Customer Experience Guidelines v3.1.3 In order to reduce complexity, and as part of the migration to the new OBIE Standards microsite, from this release onwards, OBIE will be aligning the version numbers of Customer Experience Guidelines and the Read / Write API Specifications. Thus, v1.3.1 of the Customer Experience Guidelines will be labelled as v3.1.3 to match the Read / Write API Specifications. In summary, this latest version enables a solution that can deliver further compliance with PSD2 and RTS. – – – ENDS – – – For further information, please contact: press@openbanking.org.uk About us Open Banking is a new, secure way for customers to take control of their financial data and share it with organisations other than their banks. Open Banking has the power to revolutionise the way we move, manage and make more of our money. For businesses, it is about making the management of cashflow and receiving payments cheaper and easier. Open Banking will make things simpler, faster and more convenient. Open Banking follows the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into the supply of personal current accounts (PCAs) and of banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Open Banking was created to enable innovation, transparency and competition in UK financial services. It is tasked with delivering the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures and security architectures that will enable developers to harness technology, making it easy and safe for individuals and SMEs to share the financial information held by their banks with third parties. Open Banking will bring substantial benefits. It gives customers and SMEs greater market choice and greater control over their money and associated data, along with better and easier access to new financial services providers in a secure environment. Notes to Editors: 1. Open Banking Ltd was set up by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in September 2016 to fulfil one of the remedies mandated by the CMA following an investigation into UK retail banking. 2. The CMA’s investigation into the retail banking market (whose findings were published in August 2016) concluded that older and larger banks do not compete hard enough for customers’ business and that Open Banking should deliver a new, secure option for customers to be able to compare the deal they are getting from their bank. 3. Open Banking was created to enable innovation, transparency and competition to UK financial services. It is tasked with delivering the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures and security architectures that will make it easy and safe for customers to share their financial records by January 2018. 4. The data provided by Open Banking will enable developers to harness technology that allows individuals and businesses to share their financial records held by their banks with third parties. 5. Open Banking is a private body; its governance, composition and budget was determined by the CMA. It is funded by the UK’s nine largest current account providers and overseen by the CMA, the Financial Conduct Authority and Her Majesty’s Treasury. 6. The 9 mandated institutions (referred to as the CMA9) are: Barclays plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Santander, Danske, HSBC, RBS, Bank of Ireland, Nationwide and AIBG.
The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is pleased to announce the publication of the Open Banking Standard, version 3.1.1. This is a minor update to version 3.1 which was released in November 2018. Based on feedback from participants within the ecosystem, and latest regulatory references, this version provides clarifications to previous versions and introduces the following enhanced functionality, guidelines and features (arising from approved change requests) to enable further PSD2 compliance: Design changes for approved Change Requests (CRs): – CR48 – Statement of Fees – CR50 – Interest rate not found for non PCA products – CR52 – Changes to SO frequency – CR64 – Increase in Transaction ID length – CR65 – Include Account Holder Name(s) Optional signing and encryption for all Account Information, Payment Initiation and CoF request and response messages Remediation for fixes listed on the Known Specification Issues page Guidelines on referring to agencies in customer journeys (“on behalf” field) Updates based on latest regulatory references Data cluster alignment between CEGs and technical standards There are 2 core elements to this version: Read/Write API Specification v3.1.1 Customer Experience Guidelines v1.2 In summary, this latest version enables a solution that can deliver further compliance with PSD2 and RTS. Implementation is expected by 13th September, to align with PSD2 timelines. – – – ENDS – – – For further information, please contact: press@openbanking.org.uk About Us Open Banking is a new, secure way for customers to take control of their financial data and share it with organisations other than their banks. Open Banking has the power to revolutionise the way we move, manage and make more of our money. For businesses, it is about making the management of cashflow and receiving payments cheaper and easier. Open Banking will make things simpler, faster and more convenient. Open Banking follows the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into the supply of personal current accounts (PCAs) and of banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Open Banking was created to enable innovation, transparency and competition in UK financial services. It is tasked with delivering the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures and security architectures that will enable developers to harness technology, making it easy and safe for individuals and SMEs to share the financial information held by their banks with third parties. Open Banking will bring substantial benefits. It gives customers and SMEs greater market choice and greater control over their money and associated data, along with better and easier access to new financial services providers in a secure environment. Notes to Editors: 1. Open Banking Ltd was set up by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in September 2016 to fulfil one of the remedies mandated by the CMA following an investigation into UK retail banking. 2. The CMA’s investigation into the retail banking market (whose findings were published in August 2016) concluded that older and larger banks do not compete hard enough for customers’ business and that Open Banking should deliver a new, secure option for customers to be able to compare the deal they are getting from their bank. 3. Open Banking was created to enable innovation, transparency and competition to UK financial services. It is tasked with delivering the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures and security architectures that will make it easy and safe for customers to share their financial records by January 2018. 4. The data provided by Open Banking will enable developers to harness technology that allows individuals and businesses to share their financial records held by their banks with third parties. 5. Open Banking is a private body; its governance, composition and budget was determined by the CMA. It is funded by the UK’s nine largest current account providers and overseen by the CMA, the Financial Conduct Authority and Her Majesty’s Treasury. 6. The 9 mandated institutions (referred to as the CMA9) are: Barclays plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Santander, Danske, HSBC, RBS, Bank of Ireland, Nationwide and AIBG.