As the Covid-19 outbreak disrupts the lives of millions across the world, we are working to promote and showcase those members of the OBIE ecosystem who are stepping up to help others.

If your company should be listed here, contact comms@openbanking.org.uk.

Open Banking does not endorse the products, services or statements featured in these videos. For further information see our website terms and conditions.

Open banking and the Third Sector

CreditSpring develop forebearance solution

Nesta Open Up Challenge finalist CreditSpring are using open banking to make it easier for members to show their needs for forbearance, as well as make to facilitate the granting of forbearance: a seamless process to get help to the people who need it, with little friction. Members who are at higher risk of seeing a significant drop in earnings, can leverage open banking to certify that they have not had a drop, and therefore can responsibly access a loan.

CreditSpring are also taking variables from open banking to add to their StabilityScore, helping our members build their stability in simple steps.

Credit Spring continues to use open banking to verify an applicants’ income in parallel with more traditional ways, and are exploring a ‘re-verification’ of income at the time of a customer borrowing, to ensure responsible lending.

Visit their website to learn more.

Predictive Black supports SMES with financial forecasts

The Covid-19 crisis has left lots of SMEs requiring more help and support in getting their financial forecasts right. Predictive Black has launched a 3-month free trial of their platform, which brings powerful artificial intelligence software together with the power of open banking and macro market and economic data to create predictive forecasts of a company’s revenue, costs and cash.

Newly developed responsive scenario planning functionality has also been added to the service, meaning SMEs can work through and save any number of scenarios, plus download the output to support any loan applications.

Learn more about the Predictive Black service here.

And subscribe to Premium Teams using the promotional coupon code OBPOTN for three months free.

Funding Options provide alternative route to CBILS funding for SMEs

Funding Options are providing an alternative route for small and medium enterprises looking to access emergency funding via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Read more details here.

Funding Options have also teamed up with ClearBank and its founder, Nick Ogden, to lobby the government to allow non-banks to administer CBILS funding.

More information on that activity here.

EcoSpend enables free payments to NHS

Ecospend is making its payment services available free of charge for payments to the NHS by individuals and charities, to support our frontline workers and providers who are leading the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ecospend is an open banking technology platform that matches supply and demand for high quality financial data for businesses and consumers.

Learn more about EcoSpend here.

Akoni Supporting SMEs, intermediaries and partners during Covid 19

Akoni is continuing to provide their cash marketplace and tools free to SMEs and have focused in particular on retail and IFA/white label solutions. They offer a range of cash and risk tools including bank diversification, competitive rates, as well as:

• 5 Minute Digital onboarding: businesses and consumers can onboard from remote working environments – anywhere – with all anti-money laundering performed in lockdown
• Time saving Cash Planner tools: simple access to balances and recent transactions, including instructed deposits
• Partner and White Label solutions: Wrapped users can now create their accounts and utilize the features Akoni has to offer. For SSAS, SIPP, Trust or Offshore bonds, users can now manage cash effectively via the Akoni platform.
• White Label Solutions – rapid delivery: Akoni are offering a free branded platform for channel partners, including IFAs, wealth managers/platforms as well as banks and insurers

Learn more about Akoni’s offerings at this time here.

MiaPago launch INK C-19 tracker service

Personal financial management app free for 6 months

OKEO working to support the financially excluded

OKEO is developing innovative affordability and credit risk models using current “crisis data” to lend money to financially excluded young adults at low rates during the pandemic. By utilising innovative data modelling and lending to critical sectors of the economy, OKEO’s vision is to help meet the needs of financially excluded individuals and help stimulate the UK economy.

OKEO is a London-based challenger credit card company that uses Open Banking and machine learning to provide access to affordable credit. The firm is now innovating to respond to the financial needs of individuals brought on by COVID-19 and a weakened economy.

Learn more about this new approach to lending here.

Untied.io supports gig economy workers an the self-employed

untied has launched untied for gig workers. It’s a new streamlined and simple product designed specifically to help gig workers prepare and submit tax returns. untied is making the service free to help people make sure that their tax returns for 2018/19 are submitted to HMRC by 23 April, the deadline for people to be eligible for the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

untied is also offering its personal tax app for free for new users during the crisis. This will help the wider group of self employed people make sure they are up to date. untied uses Open Banking and other data to gather information, makes tax sense of it and submits filings it to HMRC. untied, the UK’s personal tax app, is recognised by HMRC, supervised by the Institute of Tax, and regulated by the FCA. With untied, there is no need for an accountant – you can follow the rules and reduce the tax you pay by being an expert in yourself not an expert in taxes. Thanks to HMRC integrations, tax returns can be submitted straight from untied.

Learn more about this new tool here.

Kalgera makes app free for families and carers of vulnerable people

Kalgera has announced that it is providing free access to its app to the families and carers of vulnerable people in contact with volunteers or trusted shoppers to remotely be alerted to unusual activity on their bank accounts. This will act as a deterrent to financial abuse, and will also detect and help prevent fraud. Kalgera has signed up to the C-19 Business Pledge to do whatever it can to help those most affected by the pandemic.

Kalgera’s mission is to safeguard the financial lives of vulnerable people. With COVID-19, it has become apparent that vulnerable people need support from people whom they trust and volunteers to purchase essential items on their behalf.

To access Kalgera’s service, simply register online at https://kalgera.com/usekalgera.

Credit Passport provides support tools for SMEs

Credit Passport have created two powerful new tools for SMEs to navigate the crisis, both available for free:

• A liquidity shortfall calculator – to allow SMEs to understand how much they may need to borrow to bridge the next 6 months.
• A Pre-Crisis Credit Report – to demonstrate to lenders and other institutions the financial quality before impact, eligibility, and impact of the crisis on the business.

Additionally, their Learning Centre now features the Covid-19 Resource Centre where business owners can find jargon free advice and tools to understand their options and find help.

AccountScore supports SME lenders

AccountScore is supporting SME lenders during the Covid-19 outbreak by “assisting them to effectively place capital into the hands of SMEs that require it to keep their business and the wider economy functioning.”

Read the announcement in full here.

AccountScore is also working with Equifax to support businesses and consumers when it comes to identifying the income and identity of a consumer looking to secure online products during the COVID-19 era.

Learn more about this initiative here.

‘Coronavirus Lighthouse’ offers guidance to people and businesses.

Starling Bank launches business support tool.

Swoop Funding’s coronavirus helpline for SMEs

Nesta Open Up Challenge finalist Swoop Funding has created a phone hotline for small and medium businesses based in both the UK and Ireland, with information on accessing the grant and funding options that are available to them.

UK: +44 (0) 203 868 0364

Ireland: +353 (0) 1 903 6135

Ducit.AI launches debt advice solution.

Ducit.AI, who combine open banking data with artificial intelligence-based analytics to enable better financial decision making, have launched a new tool to help debt advisors quickly gain an accurate understanding of their clients’ financial health.

Read in greater detail here.

Plaid makes platform free for Covid-19 development

Plaid, an Open Banking platform that connects to over 11,000 financial institutions in the UK, Europe, and North America, is offering free access for developers directly working on solutions to the pandemic. Please reach out to them for more details at europe@plaid.com.Visit the website here.

Tully launch payment relief resource

Tully, the open banking-enabled debt management provider and sister company of OpenWrks, have announced the launch of a new online resource that helps people understand, and access, the payment relief they may be entitled to during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Access the free online tool here.

Ordo Pay make person-to-person payments free

Payments provider Ordo Pay have launched a new initiative, Ordo Neighbour2Neighbour, making it free for the UK’s volunteers to help out during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Watch the explainer video here.

Getting support to where it’s needed most

Toucan supports consumers with mental health issues.

Coconut launch campaign for self-employed income support

A combination of OBIE ecosystem participants are calling on the Chancellor to do more for self-employed people during the Covid-19 outbreak – and plan to release a free-to-use Self-Assessment Calculator for fast 2019/20 tax returns. This web tool will be built on Coconut’s existing accounting and tax technology, and be made freely-available to everyone.

Visit the campaign page here.

FinTech Taskforce for Covid-19 Launches

Trade Ledger, a digital lending platform; Wiserfunding, a digital SME credit scoring platform; Nimbla, a trade credit insurance provider, and NorthRow, a remote client onboarding platform have established a new fintech taskforce to provide a turn-key origination and underwriting platform that allows banks, alternative lenders and private debt lenders to virtually and digitally deploy funds to businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Read the full article here.

CovidCredit.uk launches to help self-employed prove income

A team of developers from CreditKudos, 11:FS and Fronted joined forces over a single weekend to build and launch CovidCredit.uk, a work-in-progress income verification tool that demonstrates how open banking data could help self-employed people demonstrate loss of income during events like the Covid-19 outbreak.

Visit the website here.

iwoca launches new Open Lending platform

iwoca announced the launch of their new Open Lending platform, enabling their partners to make fast and flexible funding available to small and medium enterprises when they need it. The timely introduction of this new source of credit comes during a period when bank branches are closing across the country.

Read the press release here.

Experian offers affordability passport for free

Experian will be offering its Affordability Passport to organisations, including debt charities and lenders, for free as part of its response to the coronavirus outbreak. The open banking tool allows people to share their credit report and transaction data via a secure platform, providing a clear picture of an individual’s financial circumstances and commitments in rapid time.

Read the full article here.

Truelayer makes open banking platform freely available

OBIE ecosystem member Truelayer issued a call to arms to government agencies, charities, healthcare providers, app developers and hackers, offering to share their “expertise and technology, free of charge, to anyone who wants to use Open Banking to help reduce the impact of COVID-19.”

Read the full blog post here.

NestEgg.ai calls on credit reference agencies during Covid-19

NestEgg.ai, who partner with TSP Truelayer to provide open banking-enabled services to credit unions across the country, has called on credit reference agencies to take a holistic view of credit-score-related decisions, as the likelihood of defaults and missed payments will increase due to the disruption caused by Covid-19.

Read the blog in full here.

Fractal publishes Covid-19 guide for SMEs

Fractal, the AI-powered financial assistant helping businesses better manage their cash, have published a comprehensive guide filled with information about the support available to small and medium enterprises across the UK during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Read the guide in full here.

Consumer protection is central to our Open Banking Standards, and already it is clear that Open Banking has a valuable role to play in helping vulnerable customers manage their financial data. We take a look at some of the initiatives, apps and services that are being developed, with particular focus onto the area of money and mental health.

Open Banking does not endorse the products, services or statements featured on this page. For further information see our website terms and conditions.

Open Banking and mental health: transforming more than payments

A quarter of all people experiencing mental health problems are in debt. Last year over 100,000 people in problem debt attempted suicide. 93 per cent of people with mental health problems spend more when they’re unwell. These statistics from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute should shake us up and get us talking.

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. Approximately one in four people in the UK experience mental health problems each year, with a combination of depression and anxiety being the most frequently experienced type of health problem. For many people, thinking about money is anxiety-inducing and talking about it is depressing. Money provides security, affirms our identity and our sense of personal power – people’s finances have a direct impact on their emotional well-being. When we’re struggling financially or mentally, it can affect us in more ways than one.

This is why the potential of Open Banking is so potent. Our industry is increasingly in a position to ‘connect the dots’ between people’s financial health and their mental health. Open Banking has a valuable opportunity to be a force for good, driving more sensitive and personalised services which could improve wellbeing and benefit all society.

Transaction data shared via Open Banking provides fertile soil for innovation. A number of firms have already responded to the ‘Stopper Shopper’ trials run by MMHPI, which showed the benefits of giving people the option to block spending on certain sites or at certain times of day. Account aggregation and the insights it enables can provide a new sense of control, which has been difficult to attain before. Tech firms are looking to build account assistants, giving people the option to nominate a friend or carer when their financial circumstances drop below a certain threshold, or seem out of kilter. Open Banking is revitalising the debt sector, affording consumers simpler and less stressful ways to get help. There is yet more potential for mainstream aggregators – fintech firms and banks who have launched solutions that enable users to see all of their bank accounts in one screen – to identify indicators for debt earlier and refer people for help more quickly.

But trust is essential. Work by Barclays, where they surveyed customers on sharing their data to identify vulnerability, shows that where people have good experiences of financial services, they are more willing to trust firms to intervene to help them (based on their data). However, where customers have been impacted, they remain sceptical. It is critical that we have strong controls in place to ensure that consumers and their data are not only ‘protected’ but respected – and that consumers know that the firms they sign up to really are on their side.

This speaks to a different kind of culture – one that’s more people focused. It’s also one that’s not afraid to talk about mental health in the workplace. Learning to have healthy conversations about mental health in the workplace is important for our growing start-ups and economy. It’s great to see Monzo proactively championing mental health in the workplace, as well as industry figures like the Competition and Markets Authority’s Adam Land sharing his own experiences with such honesty.

Facing the reality of our humanity and our mental health stories is sobering, but positive developments like those outlined above also give rise to celebration. Even at the beginning of the Open Banking journey we’re seeing positive efforts to reflect the needs of real (rather than perfect) consumers. As Open Banking grows, I am looking forward to seeing how it changes lives (and not just payments) for the better.

To learn more about what Open Banking is doing in the area of supporting vulnerable customers, visit www.openbanking.org.uk/insight/vulnerable-customers/

Standards designed with vulnerable consumers in mind

OBIE has placed the needs, security and protection of vulnerable consumers, such as those experiencing mental health issues, at the heart of our API Standards and Customer Experience Guidelines. Read this short summary of why that is, as well as an overview of the guidelines provided to Open Banking participants.

Can data and AI help break the link between money and mental health problems?

Financial difficulties and mental health problems are closely interlinked. People with mental health problems are three and a half times more likely to be in problem debt, while half of all people in problem debt have a mental health problem. Over time this can drive a destructive cycle – each year over 100,000 people in problem debt attempt to take their own life.

Lots of organisations have a role to play in breaking this link, from the government and regulators to the NHS and local authorities. But financial firms can also make a big difference. For a start, they are often the only organisations which know when someone is struggling with their finances, due to the stigma around debt.

Moreover, financial firms are well-positioned to spot when someone’s financial situation may be suffering due to poor mental health or other challenges, thanks to the customer transaction data they possess. These datasets are already analysed by firms for marketing and fraud protection purposes. But use of these datasets — when combined with innovations in open banking and AI — has the potential to transform the capacity of financial firms to both identify and support customers experiencing financial difficulty and mental health problems.

For example, someone experiencing a manic phase of bipolar disorder may be more vulnerable to impulsive spending or losing track of their finances. Others affected by depression might withdraw completely from financial management when unwell, resulting in unpaid bills stacking up. In both these situations, it’s very likely that those patterns of behaviour will become evident in their transactions data.

The question, however, is what firms should do next. Some people will welcome their bank or creditor keeping an eye on their spending patterns, and making contact if they raise concerns. Some others may prefer to access these types of services from independent third parties (FinTechs that are regulated by the FCA and registered with OBIE), rather than their banks. And there will be those for whom the idea of a bank monitoring their data is uncomfortably Big Brotheresque. Given these big ethical questions around privacy, consent and customer appetite, and the technical challenges that using data poses, it’s unsurprising that financial firms have thus far been reluctant to act.

To address these questions, Money and Mental Health is undertaking a ground-breaking programme of work with the Financial Conduct Authority, exploring how financial firms can use transactions data and AI to identify and better support people struggling with financial difficulties – with the aim of offering timely support to people who may struggle to ask for help due to a mental health problem. This will culminate in October with the publication of a research report offering practical recommendations to firms on how to navigate these issues. Our hope is that this will help ensure firms can make the most of the transformative potential of data and AI, while prioritising the customer’s best interests and safety.

Spotlight on Nationwide’s ‘Open Banking for Good’ Challenge

From a pool of 50 applicants, Nationwide Building Society have selected seven FinTech companies who will develop Open Banking based apps and services to help financially vulnerable people.

Ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, we caught up with Bailey Kursar, CEO and Founder of Toucan, and Stuart Bungay co-Founder and CEO at Tully, about helping people experiencing mental health issues through open banking technology. Both Toucan and Tully were recently selected as finalists in the Open Banking for Good challenge, in the ‘Money Management & Help’ category.

What negative impacts can people’s finances have on their mental health?

Both Stuart and Bailey confirmed that our finances can directly impact on our mental health. According to Bailey, “We’re taught that if you can’t get a handle on your spending, you’re ‘lazy’, ‘reckless’ or ‘stupid’. One of the biggest things we can do to improve people’s lives is to improve their financial literacy.”

Stuart agreed: “Debts and the stress they cause can seriously impact a person’s mental and physical health. One in three people in the UK who seek support have mental issues such as anxiety.”

Why did your company choose to leverage Open Banking to address this?

Tully and Toucan are both using Open Banking technology to support and empower their vulnerable customers, but for quite different reasons.

Tully use Open Banking to reach users on their terms. Stuart explained, “We use Open Banking to allow people to seek help and advice in an environment where they feel comfortable. At Tully, we use Open Banking for a variety of functions, from building an individual’s budget based on actual transaction data, to supporting and coaching individuals to make their money go further each month.”

For Toucan, rate of innovation is more important. According to Bailey, “Legacy banks aren’t moving fast enough to build important new features that we’re focused on delivering – like third party notifications, designed to help those with bipolar disorder and similar conditions get support with their spending from a family member or friend. Open Banking enables apps like Toucan to use the data we need to deliver these new features without relying on legacy banking systems or processes.”

What are the benefits of using Open Banking for your company?

Both Tully and Toucan chose Open Banking to increase the functionality they can offer their end users. For Bailey, “Open Banking gives us the ability to build smart features around a customer’s spending data.”

And Stuart agrees: “Open Banking provides Tully with an accurate real-time view of how much a person can actually afford to repay on their debts. We then use real-time updates to support behaviour change over time, helping our customers achieve short term spending change to save towards longer-term goals.”

What are the benefits of using Open Banking for your customers?

Both Stuart and Bailey referenced the real, tangible improvements to how people can manage their money.

Stuart again emphasised availability: “Open Banking allows Tully’s customers to complete their budget and get the advice they need in their own time. Compared to the current industry standard, Open Banking provides a quicker and more accurate way of providing income and expenditure information, without having to guess or search through endless past bills and bank statements.”

And for Bailey, the benefits were even clearer: “Open Banking gives people a secure way to use their spending data in apps that aren’t controlled by their bank. Products like Toucan can then help them spend less, save more and get better deals.”

Thoughts on the future of FinTech in the arena of Mental Health

Much has been achieved to date, and FinTech applications continue to come online to empower vulnerable consumers with better access to a broader and more accessible range of financial products. However, for Bailey, there is still more to be done – and vigilance must be the industry’s watchword going forward.

“I think there are areas where fintech has to take more responsibility for the implications of the innovations we build. The way we spend, save and borrow money has changed so much in the last decade; inevitably there will be people who are left behind, or who start to feel overwhelmed. It’s now up to us to be more thoughtful in the way we build new products. There is a lot more we can do to prevent overspending or debt connected to mental ill health, and also to alleviate anxiety around money management.”