Flux are thrilled to be part of history as the first authorised Account Information Service Provider (“AISP”) in the UK under new Open Banking (aka PSD2) regulations that went live on January 13th, 2018 under firm reference no. 791567.
At Flux we believe the Open Banking APIs will provide the most significant change in the financial industry in our lifetime. However we recognise that it will take time for that impact to be felt, possibly up to 1 year, as the industry adjusts. There are the expected changes (e.g. automated budgeting, easier switching of savings and investments) and those that we haven’t even imagined yet as new possibilities open up.
We’re going to witness financial innovation at it’s best!
Flux are at the core of Open Banking as we’re supporting the Open Banking Implementation Entity in the Managed Rollout. We believe it’s critical that we work together as one ecosystem to fully test the system over the next 6 weeks to get live products using Open Banking APIs launched faster.
We acknowledge that in an ideal world they would have been fully released on the 13th of January 2018 however we don’t think it’s quite appreciated how monumental this shift is both technically and culturally. We want to be part of the solution to get through Managed Rollout as effectively and securely as possible.
What does this FCA authorisation mean for our existing customers?
There will be no change in the service we currently provide to customers across Starling Bank, Monzo Bank and soon Barclays Bank. As a Flux customer, this new authorisation underlines Flux’s commitment to the highest levels of transparency, security and diligence when it comes to handling your transaction data. The key difference is our service is now supervised by the FCA.
Will Flux’s product strategy change now that we’re regulated?
We’re exploring exciting complimentary ways to work with the Open Banking APIs (now accessible to us as we are now a regulated AISP). We have an Open Banking event and product launch scheduled for February 16th 2018, stay tuned!
Quick recap on Open Banking, why it’s here and how Flux fits in
In 2016, The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) retail banking market investigation concluded that older and larger banks do not have to compete hard enough for customers’ business, and smaller and newer banks find it difficult to grow and access the market. This means that many people are paying more than they should for their banking activities and are not benefiting from new services.
To tackle these problems, the CMA is implementing a wide-reaching package of reforms. One of the remedies is Open Banking. Open Banking enables personal customers and small businesses to share their data securely with other banks and with third parties, allowing them to compare products on the basis of their own requirements and to manage their accounts using regulated third parties to provide new and innovative payment services.
Source: www.openbanking.org.uk/about-us/
One of those new and innovative services is Flux which provides consolidated receipt information and loyalty rewards view on one or more bank accounts held by customers as a 3rd party service hosted via the mobile banking app directly.