Five big banks to miss 'Open Banking' deadline as changes designed to boost competition near
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- 20 Dec 2020
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Five big lenders including HSBC and Barclays are set to miss a deadline for adopting so-called "Open Banking" rules from next month designed to make it easier to switch banks.
The five – which also include RBS, Santander and Bank of Ireland – have been granted extra time to comply with the rules by Britain’s competition watchdog, ranging from a few weeks to up to a year.
Under the changes, firms such as challenger or online banks will be granted access to customer bank account information such as transaction history so long as people give consent, meaning the banks can offer more personalised services to customers.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) hope the changes, which come into force for nine big banks from Jan 13, will encourage account switching and drive down costs.
The other four lenders – Allied Irish Bank, Danske, Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide – will be ready to start on time.
HSBC and Barclays have been granted an extra month to fully comply by the CMA. RBS will be ready for a partial launch on time, but its Bankline customers will also have to wait until February.
Santander said it would be mostly ready to launch on Jan 13 except for some of its small business customers.
Of these, 12,000 are expected to be able to use the service from May and 40,500 who are banking with subsidiary Cater Allen will be able to use it from January 2019.
Bank of Ireland has been given until August and September to launch for different sets of customers.
Imran Gulamhuseinwala, trustee of the Open Banking group which is implementing the rules, said: “The first set of Open Banking APIs will go live to third-party providers on January 13.
“It’s an extraordinary achievement which, in time, could fundamentally change how we manage our money.”
A HSBC spokesperson said the bank was "committed to delivering Open Banking".
A Barclays spokesperson said the bank's APIs are "built and ready" but it needed a little more testing time to ensure "customers will be safe and secure".
Santander also said it was "committed" to delivering the changes and would be ready to launch on Jan 13 for "nearly all Santander personal and business current account customers".
An RBS spokesperson said: “Whilst the vast majority of the work needed to fulfil our Open Banking obligations has been completed, the service for our Bankline commercial customers will be finalised by February 12 so that all our customers have the best experience possible.”
The Bank of Ireland was not immediately available for comment when contacted by The Daily Telegraph.
