Open Banking Survey Reveals that Most Americans Want Greater Control Over their Financial Data

A survey by API Management firm Axway (Euronext: AXW.PA) reveals that half of Americans have “never heard” of the term “Open Banking,” however, 84% agree with its “central tenet” that they should have “control of their financial data.”

As mentioned in an update shared with CI, Open Banking is the use of APIs to “unlock” financial data, allowing third-party software providers and banking institutions to create new, customer-centric financial apps and services.

Axway powers Open Banking implementations across the globe on its Amplify API Management platform, and is deploying its first “packaged” product, developed on Amplify, for Open Banking in Brazil.

The 2021 survey reveals that around 80% of US residents think their banking service providers offer all the financial services they need in their “day-to-day life,” and yet at the same time, 40% of the same people use “at least one finance or budgeting app other than their bank’s mobile app.”

Axway’s Head of Open Banking, Eyal Sivan stated:

“We’re at a transformational moment. People still trust and need their banks, but these new FinTechs are offering amazing tools that people really want to use. Open banking is the solution to making sure traditional financial institutions and FinTechs can work properly – and securely – together.”

The report further noted that systems functioning “behind the scenes” to support these types of experiences are “still obscure to the general public: when the concept of open banking was explained to them, half of survey respondents did not think open banking was positive and worried about issues surrounding constant monitoring of their financial activity (33%), losing control over access to their financial data (47%), or even financial institutions using their data against them (27%).”

Sivan added:

“At its heart, open banking is about letting people control their money. It’s encouraging that there is some awareness of the term, although clearly there’s a misperception that ‘open’ means less secure. In fact, open banking would give people significantly more control over their financial data than they have now, as well as improving security in general.”

Axway says that it view Open Banking as a “strategic” imperative as we all move toward an expanded financial ecosystem, “as demonstrated by Europe and Australia’s open banking laws.”

Sivan also mentioned:

“It’s not just about compliance with regulation. It’s about making sure you’re ready for the digital economy of the 21st century, opening up silos and freeing data so it can be controlled and leveraged by its rightful owner: the individual who created it.”

As noted in the announcement, Axway gives heritage IT infrastructure “new life, helping more than 11,000 customers worldwide build on what they already have to digitally transform, add new business capabilities, and drive growth.”

With their Amplify API Management Platform — the “only open, independent platform for managing and governing APIs across teams, the hybrid cloud, and third-party solutions” — Axway helps firms “move forward faster, reach new markets, and create brilliant digital experiences.”

The firm’s MFT and B2B integration solutions have been “trusted” for 20 years. Axway employs more than 1,800 workers in 18 countries.



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