Open banking solutions and the people making it happen took centre stage at yesterday’s Open Banking Showcase, delivered by the API Centre ahead of a key implementation date for open banking.
Held in Tāmaki Makaurau and livestreamed as part of Techweek24, the showcase highlighted fintech businesses and banks partnering to deliver innovative open banking payments.
Four fintech businesses – BlinkPay, Qippay, Volley and Worldline – presented demonstrations of solutions powered by the Payment Initiation v2.1 API Standard.
Developed by the API Centre in collaboration with the industry, this standard allows consumers to set up and make electronic payments by connecting directly and safely through a registered third party to a registered API Provider.
Security, ease of use and speed were highlighted in the presentations and the products on show – including BlinkPay’s integration with Sharesies for instant top-ups from customers’ bank accounts, Qippay’s open banking solutions for merchants to offer customers convenient online payments, Volley’s payment request app allowing people to pay businesses or each other instantly, and Worldline’s Online EFTPOS product which is live with more than 500 merchants and has been used by around 700,000 New Zealanders.
Several of these products are already live and on the market through partnerships with banks, with the four largest banks in Aotearoa due to be ready to partner using the Payment Initiation API Standard by 30 May.
Representatives of these banks – ASB, ANZ, BNZ and Westpac – joined the fintech presenters for two panels moderated by the API Centre’s Lisa Ibarra, discussing the current state of open banking and its future.
Banks and fintechs taking part on the panels highlighted the significance of the 30 May implementation date, the work involved from all parties to get ready and to bring solutions to the market, and the potential for future growth with implementation marking “the end of the beginning”.
Partnering – the commercial agreements linking banks and third parties through a common API – was also a key point of discussion, with panelists discussing their experiences of working together and lessons learned. Establishing a Consumer Data Right (with the Consumer and Product Data Bill soon due to be tabled in Parliament), developing an accreditation framework to streamline partnering, and further exploring Digital Identity were also highlighted as important elements to foster a growing open banking ecosystem.
Phil Cass, API Centre Manager, noted the significance of the event in an opening presentation on the API Centre’s work – celebrating the industry progress made to date, and describing it as an exciting moment marking the beginning of the digital economy in Aotearoa.
A combined audience of more than 500 people joined the event in-person and online.