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Open Business Banking: Hit or Flop

Philippa Whitham Senior Director 10 January 2023

In 2016, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) completed a major investigation of the UK retail banking market. One of the overall conclusions was that older, larger banks do not have to compete hard enough to gain or retain customers.
To tackle this issue, Open Banking was launched in 2018, directly following the CMA’s recommendations. It enables customers to share their current account information securely with other banks and third parties, allowing them to compare banking products based on their requirements and to manage their accounts without having to use their bank.

The introduction of Open Banking in 2018 was hailed as one of the biggest shake-ups in the banking world in recent times. However, five years on, industry opinion is divided as to whether it has been a hit or a flop.

Since its launch, however, the jury has been out on whether the huge investment in the API infrastructure has been a success or failure. Last year, key industry players such as Starling Bank’s CEO, Anne Boden branded Open Banking a flop, a view which has been seemingly shared by Monzo founder Tom Blomfield and Tide’s Oliver Prill.

Savanta’s MarketVue Business Banking data certainly shows that Open Banking has not had any impact on account switching behaviour.

In the second quarter of 2017, Savanta investigated the appeal of 4 potential Open Banking features (amongst start-up and established businesses with a turnover of £0-1bn) and we have now carried out follow-up research in 2022 to see how opinions have changed. In addition, in 2022 we also measured both awareness and usage, to truly uncover if reality is living up to expectations.

Download our free mini-report here.

 

Based on a continuous survey of 15,000 financial decision-makers in UK businesses and 10 years of historical data, MarketVue Business Banking is a highly reliable and detailed monitor of how banks are perceived by business customers.

Comprehensive, reliable and with years of historical data, MarketVue is an essential brand management and monitoring tool used by all major financial institutions and agencies, providing brands with detailed insights into the behaviours, perceptions and experiences of business customers.

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