OPINION PIECE
Open to Change Open banking offers a wide range of opportunities for better service and inclusion in financial services and Amol Bahuguna Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Technology and Change Management Section at Riyad Bank explains that Saudi Arabia is well positioned for its adoption
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i t h a n i n f l u x of l a rg e number of fintechs working with new te c h n o l o g i es o n d a ta sharing and big data applications, the banking sector has witnessed the building of a competitve landspace across different geographies. While newer and smaller banks struggle to access the market and grow a customer base, larger traditional banks strive to cope with the changing technologies and to recaliberate their operating models. However, despite several
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operational changes, all banks usually end up offering restricted and similar services to their customers, who do not get enough choices or control over their money or financial information. As competitiveness rises in the financial sector around innovations and customer experience, open banking is potentially the harbinger of colossal change in the financial services ecosystem, giving customers the freedom of choice to manage their finances and make informed decisions through access to the data.
Banking and Finance news in the MEA market
Open banking is a collaborative practice that builds a strong network between customers, large and small financial organizations, and third-party service providers. The regulation of open banking has created opportunities and avenues for a network of unaffiliated parties to access consumers’ banking, transaction, and other data through secured APIs. This has enabled enhanced marketplace capabilities through building robust financial applications and innovative mobile banking platforms for customers to enjoy easy and reliable cross-platform payments and direct financial transactions with businesses. Besides benefitting the customers, open banking encourages traditional banks to adopt innovation, mitigates entrance barriers for newcomers, and promotes healthy competition between large and small banks while increasing t h e f i n a n c i a l syste m’s ef f i c i e n cy and inclusion. Since the implementation of Open Banking in the UK in 2018, the ecosystem now includes over 300 fintech and innovative ser vice providers. The
