Nationwide Building Society is using open banking technology from Moneyhub to enable customers to fund new savings accounts as part of the application process.
The new service uses Moneyhub's open banking payment initiation service (PIS) technology to connect savers directly to their current account or savings account held at other banks in order to sweep the money.
Previously customerss would have to wait a few days until the account was fully opened before they could transfer the money needed to meet the account funding requirements. Each month, this led to around eight per cent of accounts being closed as users would simply forget to credit the account.
Daniel King, chief digital product owner at Nationwide comments: “We all lead increasingly busy lives, so it’s easy to see why so many people forget to go back and fund their new savings account after it’s been opened. By partnering with Moneyhub and using open banking technology we are able to streamline the process and in doing so allow our members to start earning a higher rate of interest on their money right from day one.”
Initially the new process will be available for Fixed Rate Online Bonds, before being rolled out to other savings products in future.
Nationwide dipped into its into its £50 million venture fund in November 2018 to take a minority stake in Moneyhub.