Zopa has worked with TrueLayer to create an income verification product which removes the need to manually upload documents to verify income - replacing it with Open Banking data.

Marie Steinthaler, head of new products at Zopa, says: “Through our partnership with TrueLayer, we have created a streamlined and secure process, and have already seen very promising uptake from customers choosing to verify their income using this method. We look forward to creating an even better experience for our customers by making the most of Open Banking data, and we’re already working hard on our next set of innovative features.”

Separately, Openwrks - which likewise enables providers of consumer and small business products and services to access consumer's financial data - has become the first third party provider to successfully connect to all of the banks currently providing functional APIs (Lloyds, RBS, AIB, HSBC and Danske).

Imran Gulamhuseinwala, implementation trustee at Open Banking, says: “We can confirm that OpenWrks became the first third party provider to connect with all of the banks taking part in the Open Banking Managed Roll Out. This is an encouraging step towards genuine revolution in UK retail banking. Open Banking, if we get it right, will put the customer securely in control of their data, their privacy and their finances.”

Six of the largest UK banks missed the 13 January deadline for implementing Open Banking, prompting a fresh warning from the Competition and Markets Authority that it will step in to punish banks that continue to drag their feet.

Speaking to Reuters, Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), says: “One thing that we and the CMA will be very alert to (is) that if the banks seek to use the security argument to suppress competition as opposed to raising standards of security, then clearly that would require intervention by one or both of us."