A round table "Promoting the development of interoperable open data systems in the Asia-Pacific region"
On February 14, 2022, FBA EAC took part in the virtual round table: "Promoting the development of interoperable open data systems in the Asia-Pacific region". At the event, Irina Gorbulina, Head of the FBA EAC Representative Office in Australia and New Zealand, represented the Association.
ABAC FEWG and APFF with the ASEAN Bankers' Association and Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPA Asia) organized the event.
The participants of the event, after discussing the topic of the round table, concluded that rapid technological innovations are pushing banking systems deeper into the center of economic activity. The blurring of traditional industry boundaries and the emergence of new business models, especially in the context of open banking policies introduced in key markets, increasingly link personal data stored in banks with data sets from other sectors providing services to consumers and businesses. These include, among others, telecommunications, healthcare, travel, utilities, and social media.
The growing use of digital services creates more data, which allows you to customize the provision of services and contributes to the further deepening of the digitalization of the economy. This trend towards digital transactions, further enhanced by the COVID-19 outbreak, has put data right at the center of the digital economy, where the ability to combine different types of data about an individual customer to create a risk profile and individual solutions meeting that customer's needs becomes the key to competitiveness. It also highlights the importance of broader sharing of data with customer permissions across the economy, which can allow suppliers of goods and services to gain a comprehensive understanding of their customers and more effectively meet their needs. Banks, which are the most reliable custodians of customer data, are expected to play a central role in this process.
Open banking refers to the use of open APIs that allow third-party developers to create applications and services for financial institutions. This allows bank customers to give their consent to third parties to access their data stored in banks in order to get direct and convenient access to a wide range of services offered by third parties. From this point of view, open banking is not really about banking, but about data and how data is transformed and protected.
Most of the current open banking models used (for example, the EU PSD 2 and the UK Open Banking Standard) include unidirectional data flows that allow technology firms to access banking data, but not vice versa. However, some jurisdictions allow bidirectional data flows, for example, between banks and technology firms.
This makes more sense because combining financial data and digital footprints from big tech data can provide a more efficient way to serve customers, prevent fraud and identity theft, comply with regulatory requirements for customer due diligence, and ensure equal market access for all participants. Examples of initiatives aimed at transitioning to this model are the Australian Consumer Protection Initiative (CDR), Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act, and industry precedents in the US, such as the Massachusetts Right to Repair Cars Act.
The recognition of consumers' right to data portability in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in the California Consumer Privacy Act have created legislative opportunities for future cross-industry open data regimes.
that are being developed by the banking industry and the regulatory community are developing these initiatives, along with data rights structures for customer financial data, APEC countries should consider helping them adopt open data models that meet the requirements of their specific markets, especially for the benefit of consumers and MSMEs.