Retailers eyeing potential benefits of Open Banking, research shows

Research from management consultant company Accenture has shown that retailers are eyeing the potential benefits of Open Banking.

The study surveyed nearly 80 payments executives from large retail companies to find out how they are planning to respond to the Revised Payments Services Directive, which is set to be introduced in January 2018.

Access

Under the new Open Banking rules, retailers will be able to accept payments directly from a customer’s financial institution, as well as being provided with access to consumer data with permission.

The research found nearly a third of survey respondents will be able to obtain consumer data from banks, with application programming interfaces (APIs) being one way in which retailers will access the data.

APIs will enable retailers to lower or remove card transaction fees, as well as letting banks provide extra services through third parties.

Respondents revealed how they plan to use APIs, with more than 74 per cent planning to access consumers’ financial information to enable them to tailor products. 53 per cent will use them to negotiate better transaction fees.

Other uses include reducing fraud (53 per cent) and generating relevant point-of-sale offers and discounts based on the spending habits of consumers (51 per cent).

Opportunity

Commenting on the new banking regulations, Accenture Managing Director of Payment Services in Europe Jeremy Light said: “Open Banking is an opportunity for retailers to provide a better customer experience through flexible payment initiation and faster refunds, and to increase cash flow by bypassing card networks and fees and reducing fraud and chargebacks.”