Linedata Exchange Europe 2018 - live blog

17.07: That concludes our panel. Thank you for joining our coverage from Linedata Exchange Europe 2018.

17.06: DLT will transform and disrupt, Nabi states. He says that rather than being competitive, this should be a collaborative process. As DLT is adopted and processes change, custodians need to ensure that their servicing of the buy-side adds value. Collaborating with the buy-side is a big part of where the industry will end up, he says. There is a challenge for custodians here, they need to embrace disruption.

17.01: Predicting three to five years out, Gouldstone says that the biggest change coming is the digitisation of customer services, particularly in the asset management space. O'Keeffe predicts regulation and regulators will increase in this time span. For Nabi, he thinks a number of top 20 exchanges will move to DLT, which will trigger a widespread engineering of the post-trade ecosystem. Ginnever forecasts that the wave of change in employer/employee relationships will continue towards a partnership. Galbraith backs up the Nabi's point on DLT, particularly in the KYC and AML space.

16.57: Gouldstone says that people have the ideas how to develop their business, but they might not understand how to achieve this. He says it is the role of technology companies to step in and support the vision of businesses in this way.

16.55: Ginnever says that the companies having success on the people side is those that give their people autonomy. Galbraith notes that people have had autonomy on the asset management side, reducing cost through the use of technology which has been a bottom-up movement. He says he is not sure if you get the big innovation through autonomy at the lower level though.

16.50: As a capital markets industry, ten years since the crisis has seen quite reactive innovation driven by regulation, says Nabi. The technology developments of recent years such as DLT is what has driven the transformational innovation that is now being fostered. In terms of doing this type of innovation, Nabi quotes some of the aggregation business such as Uber and Airbnb. Today, this type of disruption can be applied to financial services, which is now more attractive.

16.46: There is a distinction between innovation and 'Innovation', Nabi says. In the business he wants to foster innovation across all segments of the business. As head of innovation, he supports this, and then when he sees shifts in the ecosystem there needs to be a focus that enables the business to work through these major changes. The 'Innovation' is not easy to do, but it needs to be done.

16.42: Galbraith says that he is yet to see anything useful come from bank innovation centres. For his organisation, they think about how they change the culture of the organisation. They promote an agenda of change, and investing in technology is a way to address costs, but he says they could do even more.

16.40: A problem with productivity in the UK is that we are not allowing people to embrace technology fully, Ginnever comments, noting that people now have better technology at home than they do in the office. This didn't use to be the case.

16.39: O'Keeffe notes that his organisation looks at work through the prism of regulation. Regulation can stifle innovation, so how do you manage that? He notes that managing the huge volume of data is a key challenge, so finding better ways to do this is essential. This involves automating manuel processes. He says that technology is an enabler, helping people within teams change the way the work and working smarter.

16.36: Gouldstone says that his company needs to see what the industry is doing. He says this information has to come from a broad group throughout the organisation. This allows them to make the next product more appealing.

16.34: Ginnever says that there needs to be transformation in the way businesses operate, but this doesn't need to be a top down view. She says it is more about constant evolution, and it is the whole team doing this rather than simply senior management.

16.33: Nabi comments that getting the mindset shifted from the next 12 months to the transformative view of the future is essential, and also a challenge. He says HSBC is putting the client at the centre of innovation to drive this - it requires a leap of faith but it is important.

16.31: Is transformation essential for a successful growth strategy? Galbraith says yes, he thinks about how to break down his company's business model into its component parts and how these can be transformed. What is the external impact on their operating model? They think ahead for the roadmap of the next three to five years, such as what does BAU look like in this time and what do you need to do to get there.

16.28: Following a Chatham House Rule-covered presentation from someone with a past in a UK security service, and a brief motivation drumming interlude, the programme is about to recommence. This plenary panel is exploring growth through transformation and how can digital, operational and human resource transformation can deliver growth. Our moderator is Chris Mills from Stradegi, and he is joined by Geoff Galbraith at Man Group; Jane Ginnever from Shift; Mike O'Keeffe from Corlytics; Ed Gouldstone with Linedata; and Jason Nabi from HSBC.

14.50: Clayton says there is still a little bit of clunkiness in what they get supplied by the bank APIs, but while it is not a fully fleshed product yet he is hopeful of the direction of travel. And on that note, the panel concludes.

14.48: Early adopters are in a place where this new data gives them an advantage, says Betts, pointing to lenders as one group this applies to, as the data is allowing them to lend where they couldn't lend before. He adds that it could take longer for larger institutions to implement this, but there is a will to do so there.

14.45: The barrier for people to develop applications to use open banking is pretty high, says Betts who has gone through the process. Any data breach comes back to his name on the FCA database, so security is absolutely a top priority for anyone operating in this area.

14.41: The conversation moves to the security of open banking. An FCA licence gives you a digital passport that you have to have if data is going to be made available to you, Haslingden says. He adds that stories about open banking being a hacker's paradise are just not true, it is as secure as mobile banking at least.

14.36: Clayton says that the regulator is driving the change, not the consumer as the consumer doesn't know what they want. He predicts open banking will really take off when they see the brands and offerings that offer value to them.

14.35: In Australia, their government is taking a broader scope that takes in telecoms data and more, as well as banking data, Betts adds. In the US, there are very mature APIs that allow consumers to share their data with other banks, and more besides. So while there has been less of a regulatory-driven move to open banking in the US, there have been innovations in this area.

14.30: The use of predictive data for decisioning is gaining traction in the US, says Haslingden, and this looks that it may begin to take hold in the UK as well. Escudeiro adds that the PSD2 initiative in Europe has no law saying the banks should do things in a standardised manner, whereas in the UK the banks all need to use the same API.

14.25: Is too much data a bad thing? Haslingden says that open banking is not trying to exacerbate financial inclusion - people that don't share their data should still have access to the same financial products of those that do. Clayton says that he sees open banking as a progressive way to actually open services up to customers that may not have had access to previously.

14.22: For small businesses, another question is how can you help them run the business, in terms of budgeting and meeting payroll, for example. Betts says there are a lot of interesting products being developed in this area. An understanding of how SMEs are transacting with their bank account can allow transparency of whether they are using the financial products best suited to them.

14.18: For Clayton, the ability for users to see all of their banking service providers with one view will be a powerful selling point. It is about how you engage with the customer and pitch it to them as a value adding service.

14.15: Will people be confident enough to share data? Wraith-Carter says this could come down to age groups, with the younger end of the spectrum more willing to do this. He adds that banks are still on the back foot when it comes to trust, which could be an issue unless the banks can demonstrate real value. He says it will be good in the consumer world, but questions the appeal to SMEs.

14.12: Haslingden says that Experian sits on the steering group for open banking, so they are advocates of it and are investing in this. He says customers are already sharing data through screen scraping applications, which is a step in the right direction - customer accept that they need to share data. Also, this won't just be for current accounts, but it will cascade to credit accounts too. Open banking will definitely happen as there is a regulatory impetus behind it.

14.09: Betts' platform allows its users to offer customers the ability to share and make payments, through API technologies. Open banking can help customer journey's better, he says, using the example of applying for a mortgage where the onboarding can take months. By automating processes that would have been done through connections to call centres and branch visits, the lending decision can be made much faster, he says.

14.06: Clayton's business is in the used car finance sector, and he is keen to create a quality online customer journey that customers in other retail sectors enjoy. Onboarding and underwriting quickly and transparently is one possible are where open banking could help here.

14.03: Escudeiro says that open banking is a big issue for Linedata. He says that the UK is far ahead of Europe in this regard, but also that PSD2 is opening up opportunities on the continent.

14.02: Wraith-Carter says that his institution is still weighing up what open banking will mean to their SME clients. His key three words are access, awareness, and fear, drivers for his customers. He notes that open banking is yet to be a key attraction for SMEs, who are more worried about their day to day work.

13.59: Goldie begins by setting the scene on open banking. He says the government became invested in this project when they discovered that not many people were changing their bank accounts, and wanted to open this to encourage competition and better management of money.

13.44: For this panel, our moderator is Simon Goldie, FLA, and he is joined by panellists Olly Betts from OpenWrks; Rob Haslingden with Experian; Luis Miguel Escudeiro from Linedata, Jonathan Clayton at Oodle Finance; and Gavin Wraith-Carter from Hitachi Capital. It is pitched as a topical debate on the latest trends within the lending and leasing industry, including open banking and digitisation.

13.40: Good afternoon from London's South Bank for our live coverage from Linedata Exchange Europe 2018. We will be getting underway in around five minutes with a panel discussion on how open banking can improve the customer experience in the lending and leasing sector.