The data rush is on as start-ups get set for open banking

Paul Chapman believes banking is only going to get more complex.

“We like to say Japan is living in the future,” he says. “People have a very fragmented life with three to four banks and several different financial products. There is so much complexity and we think that is happening in Australia.”

The Australian co-founder of financial management app Moneytree, which is based in Japan and launched in Australia last year, is one of a number of start-ups jostling for position as the government looks to introduce open banking to Australia.

Speaking to Fairfax Media on the sidelines of the Salesforce World Tour in Sydney this month, he said open banking presented an opportunity for small businesses and start-ups.

Introducing open banking to Australia

Open banking is the basis on which consumers will be able to securely and easily share their financial data with trusted parties such as banks, financial technology firms or potentially tech giants like Facebook.

Treasurer Scott Morrison last year ordered a review into open banking. The final report published last month provided 50 recommendations on implementing open banking in Australia.

Australia is following the lead of the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan in introducing open banking, with Japan set to open up its banks in April.

Opportunity for data portability

Moneytree was one of the start-ups that made a submission to the government’s review. Having had a front-row seat to its introduction in Japan, Chapman is optimistic about the benefits of open banking for consumers in Australia.

Open banking is clearly of benefit to Chapman’s business, with the Moneytree app built using Salesforce’s Heroku linking directly to users’ bank and credit card accounts, superannuation funds and loyalty programs to display real-time financial information to users.

“We think everyone will have a need for a data portability platform as everyone has a very fragmented financial future ahead of them,” he says. Chapman acknowledges open banking has its critics but says it will put an end to screen scraping which is currently used to collect data.

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Source: The data rush is on as start-ups get set for open banking – Sydney Morning Herald