Lu Zurawski, solutions practice lead retail banking EMEA at ACI Worldwide 

“January 13^, 2018 may be remembered as the ‘beginning of the end’ of the traditional retail banking industry.

“Thanks to a profound set of new rules by European regulators and the UK government, we may see the start of an era where consumers no longer hesitate to change their bank accounts or make more personalised arrangements in regards to their finances.

“Both the new EU Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and the UK Open Banking initiative have led existing banks to co-operate with third-party companies that from now on will be allowed to operate financial services on behalf of consumers. These new companies will be able to access account information and to perform transactions on behalf of consumers, obviously only with explicit permission from the account holder.

“In the next few months, we will see new providers offering so-called ‘account aggregation’ services. Those of us with multiple bank accounts will be able to access all of our private financial information in one place, without the need to log into separate applications. These providers are also expected to offer comparison services, showing fees, charges and features of different products. If consumers adopt these new services, our relationship with banks will eventually change.

“We are also likely to see major retailers experimenting with new payment methods. As more of us become familiar with mobile apps and ‘in-app” payments, it seems natural for retailers to offer a ‘pay direct-from-bank-account option,’ particularly if this is more convenient and if loyalty offers make it more financially compelling too.

“January 13, 2018 doesn’t signify the end of banking and there is nothing to stop existing banks from becoming account aggregators themselves. But there will be few events in the retail banking industry as profound as the go-live of Open Banking.”