Innovative fintech company FreeAgent has become the first UK accounting software to offer direct bank feeds via the Open Banking platform - giving customers even greater security and visibility over their business finances.
The firm, who make award-winning cloud accounting software for small businesses, freelancers and accountants, has unveiled new Open Banking feeds for UK FreeAgent customers banking with RBS and NatWest. Initially, the feeds will be open to a select group of test users, with a wider roll-out expected later in 2019.
The new feature uses the Open Banking framework to deliver secure, direct data feeds from customers’ bank accounts into their FreeAgent accounts. It marks the first wave of FreeAgent’s wider Open Banking strategy, which will see a wider range of banking data feeds and features introduced over the coming years to help small business owners manage their business finances more effectively.
The new Open Banking feeds are the latest development in FreeAgent's ongoing partnership with RBS and NatWest, which already sees customers of the bank receiving access to FreeAgent free of charge
Ed Molyneux, CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent, said: “We’re really excited to be the first accounting software to offer Open Banking feeds in the UK. From our customers’ perspective it will seem like only a small change to their FreeAgent experience, but it represents a significant step in how they will interact with their data in the future.
“We see Open Banking as as an integral part of our mission to help small business owners understand their finances better and make more informed decisions about their businesses. Eventually, we envisage a whole ecosystem of fintech apps, features and services powered by Open Banking that will make it easier than ever for people to run and maintain their own business.
“Open Banking was designed to put more capability and control into the hands of business owners and bank customers. Thanks to our relationship with RBS and NatWest, we’re delighted to be leading the way on providing these new types of data feeds - and we're excited to show our users what we'll be able to do for them in the future with more direct access to transaction information and payments."
Paul Thwaite, MD Sales, Specialist Businesses and Business Banking at NatWest, said: “We’re excited to be working in partnership with FreeAgent to offer this latest improvement to our SME customers. Using this technology to help our customers view the accounts they hold with us is another important step in offering innovative, convenient options that allow our small business owners and entrepreneurs to focus their efforts on doing what they do best - running their business.”