Smart Data Group (SDG) has recently appointed Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer as independent Mobilisation Lead as the industry focuses on efforts to unlock the next phase of Open Banking and build the foundations for a more scalable, secure and resilient smart data economy in the United Kingdom. The new appointment comes at a key moment for the sector, as policymakers and industry deal with how to move Open Banking from a regulatory competition remedy into a “commercially sustainable model that can support growth, competition, and innovation for the UK economy.”
Ruth will be tasked with supporting industry-led engagement on the proposed Open Banking Future Entity (FE), working “independently to listen to and reflect views from across the ecosystem.”
Subject to industry backing for SDG to take this work forward, she would then support the “final design and mobilisation of the FE, ensuring it is future-ready and capable of supporting Open Banking while laying the foundations for a broader, cross-sector smart data infrastructure aligned with the UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act.”
This approach is intended to create a “resilient data highway” that can, over time, support open finance and “wider smart data use cases, delivering improved cyber resilience, operational efficiency, and better outcomes for businesses and consumers.”
With experience across banking, payments, regulation, governance and cybersecurity, Ruth’s appointment signals “a push for greater clarity and momentum as the industry moves from high-level design to concrete delivery decisions.”
Should the SDG be selected by the industry to operate the FE, Ruth will be supported “by an independent external secretariat to ensure a transparent, inclusive and well-governed process.”
Her role will focus on engaging banks, fintechs, payments firms and consumer groups to translate policy objectives “into an operating model that works commercially and at scale.”
Alongside the appointment, SDG has published an “updated Blueprint setting out a clear mobilisation pathway for the FE, responding to industry feedback and outlining how governance, funding, and implementation decisions could be taken on an industry-led basis.”
SDG’s approach has also received backing “from The Investment and Saving Alliance (TISA), one of the United Kingdom’s cross-industry financial services bodies, reflecting growing consensus around the need for an independent, industry-led structure capable of supporting long-term growth and innovation.”
Richard Newman, Co-Founder of Smart Data Group, added that their revised Blueprint and mobilisation proposal reflect the breadth of insight we have gathered across the ecosystem.
With Ruth independently leading SDG’s mobilisation planning and with industry endorsement for their approach, they are “positioned to support industry-led decision-making on the Future Entity’s final design and implementation.”
