Upstart challengers continue to lead the way in the UK's open banking space, as API specialist TrueLayer integrates with Starling to enable businesses to access customer account data.
TrueLayer acts a fintech developer platform, giving firms an easy way to access the bank data they need to build new financial apps and services.
The Starling tie-up means that the bank's customers can now share their data to use products created by these developers - including income verification tools, lending products and collated financial dashboards. The partners stress that account information will only be accessible when a customer chooses to use a new product and actively agrees to share their information through an explicit consent.
The partnership is the latest in a series for TrueLayer since Open Banking came into force - last month the firm integrated with Starling rival Monzo and P2P lending specialist Zopa. Meanwhile, the company says that it has seen a 20% week-on-week increase in signups by developers to its API, with the majority asking for access to data from the challenger banks, especially Starling.
Francesco Simoneschi, CEO, TrueLayer, says: "This first quarter of the year has been extremely encouraging for PSD2 and Open Banking. We witnessed a strong consumer response and a conversion rate between 50-80% when in relation to sharing financial information with third party apps - that means consumers are starting to understand the benefits and have increased confidence with the new regulatory framework."