Open Banking and Open Finance as a Journey

Today I speak with Lauren Jones, Director of Market Development at Open Banking Exchange. Lauren is an expert focused on delivering open banking and open finance to central banks, regulators and market infrastructures around the world.

Open Banking Exchange aims to foster innovation, competition and efficiency to increase consumer choice and enhance security for online payments and is globally known for guiding central banks, authorities and regional communities through operational and technical set-up of open banking and open finance ecosystems.

Lauren explains open banking, open data, and open finance in a simple to understand manner and we discussed how Open banking and open finance are a journey - more specifically a journey setting foundations for future innovation. We touch of the role of the regulator, competition, the actual benefits of open banking, and how it fosters financial inclusion.

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Let’s dive into it!

👉 You can find Lauren here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-jones-payments/
• LinkedIn Open Banking Exchange: https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-banking-exchange/
• Website: https://www.openbanking.exchange/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

If you enjoy this Purpose Driven FinTech pod, please subscribe in YouTube, follow and leave a 5 star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple podcasts. Remember to connect in YouTube or LinkedIn to keep the conversation going.

We cover:

(0:00:00) Financial inclusion vs. financial access

(0:02:33) Resilience and overcoming challenges

(0:03:40) Viewing failure as a learning opportunity

(0:06:13) Taking initiative and upskilling in career

(0:07:28) Building purpose-driven fintechs with a public good element

(0:08:06) Investing time in understanding and future-proofing fintech

(0:10:09) Developing an industry strategy for the future

(0:10:59) Regulators in the UK and Europe lack a clear vision for the fintech agenda

(0:12:01) The convergence of open banking, real-time payments, identity, and AI is crucial

(0:12:54) The industry should coalesce around a clear direction for the next 20 years

(0:17:50) Open banking, open data, and open finance involve third-party access to customer accounts

(0:19:31) Open banking focuses on transactional accounts, while open finance includes other financial products

(0:20:03) Open data expands beyond financial data to include health, telco, and energy data

(0:21:57) Building open banking ecosystems requires adapting best practices to each market

(0:22:19) Financial inclusion and access vary depending on the market's development level

(0:23:30) Open banking is just one part of a bigger story of financial inclusion

(0:27:57) PSD3 regulation aims to standardize and open up all financial products

(0:30:48) Open finance will drive competition and innovation in the industry

(0:37:45) Open banking is not easily pitched to retail consumers as a positive thing

(0:40:09) Trust may not be the selling point for future generations in financial services.

(0:45:07) Diversity is important at all levels of the financial services industry

(0:49:33) Work with other industries to build inclusive financial products

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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about coaching, collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email fintechwithmoni@gmail.com

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.