As we enter a new era of open banking, we see customers empowered by PSD2 and GDPR, enjoying increased control over their personal account data. While the focus of attention has centred on the power struggle over personal data between customers and the banking institutions, we shouldn’t lose sight of the purpose of GDPR. In essence, it forms a contract of trust between the customer and organisation. Of course, contracts aren’t always a simple affair and undoubtedly rely upon both parties acting in an ethical and accountable manner. Here, the stakes are high. We are expecting ethics and accountability in a highly complex area of compliance, an area that is steeped in sensitivity and risk, involving the sharing of financial data with third parties.  

In today’s connected world, sensitive customer information makes its journey across an increasingly omni-channel landscape, thanks to the use of APIs. With a supply chain that is only set to expand beyond pure payment, the fraud risk shoots though the roof. Banks who do not go far enough to minimise this risk and ensure credibility throughout the end-to-end process, place their reputation and brand in serious risk. Not a great plan in such a hypercompetitive industry.   

While the weakest link in the chain could lie with any of the involved parties, the bank assumes all responsibility for any breaches, as the institution itself entered into the agreement with the customer, not any third parties. This makes complying with the regulation-heavy framework - in a way that doesn’t compromise on the speed and agility of service - the ultimate test in this new era of open banking.

To maintain this fine balance between compliance and innovation, cultural shifts are essential across an organisation. While open banking is rightly considered a collaborative model, the same approach is required by the teams delivering it and the management directing it.

However, it is in reality, the full spectrum of the workforce that have a part to play. Consider those in customer-facing roles, if you will. It is essential for them to be fully equipped to handle the greater complexity that now comes with customer interactions. Responsibilities could range from having adequate understanding of user rights, to communicating the right information in the event of a security breech as quickly as possible through the appropriate channels, thus minimising any greater impact.

Without a doubt, this new framework requires diligent employees who are just as equipped to spot an opportunity to add value to the service experience, as they are to notice an issue or discrepancy. This of course leads to the question as to how best to cultivate such behaviour. Incentives and rewards – or even penalties – may play a part, but the solution is likely more complex than that. The more challenging element is the need to drive instinctive and intuitive personal responsibility amongst employees. Only then will they truly understand the importance of their role in protecting the organisation’s data. But this demands substantial change and innovation at structural level and is undoubtedly linked to the complex issue of employee engagement.

Supporting these challenges are technology platforms designed to deliver improved ways of working. The greater clarity they provide around core processes, accessible data insight and intuitive integration, provide a central tenet to meeting the challenge. The resulting effect is much improved collaboration, which in turn enables a wider section of the business to get involved, leading to risks being minimised and ultimately the improved operational efficiencies that organisations seek.

However, for many organisations, integrating and creating a consistent view of data across the organisation is considered to be their main data challenge. This provides a stark reminder of the importance of adopting solutions that not only enable process maps and regulatory certification to be provided through easy to understand visualisation, but that best practice knowledge centres are introduced to aid meeting the vast swathe of regulatory requirements. Additionally, with increasing customer demands clearly driving expectations for more emotionally intelligent connections, the burden – and opportunity – resides with accessible and real-time information that is able to identify relevant offers that turn that moment to an advantage.

Achieving data visibility and being able to quickly and clearly view the resulting intelligence allows financial organisations to focus on areas of high risk or opportunity when it comes to new product creation and new partnerships. This has to be front of mind for all organisations striving to deliver the emotional intelligence that today’s consumers expect when handling their personal finances.