Konsentus acquires Open Banking Europe initiative from EBA Clearing subsidiary
Open banking firm Konsentus has acquired Open Banking Europe, a collaborative initiative aimed at increasing its adoption among banks.
Europe has 320 accredited providers of open banking APIs
Open Banking Europe (OBE) will remain a separate operating entity, led by managing director, John Broxis.
Originally created in 2017, OBE’s mission is to turn regulatory requirements into “operational reality”. It provides its members with a collaborative environment to test open banking solutions.
It operates a regulatory directory with information provided by national authorities across Europe. OBE claims more than 500 financial institutions use its services.
Preta, a subsidiary of EBA Clearing, operated OBE prior to the acquisition.
Konsentus offers account-to-account access in compliance with the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2).
“Working with Preta’s Open Banking Europe was an obvious next step to accelerate our European expansion,” says Konsentus CEO, Mike Woods.
He adds his “delight” that Broxis is joining Konsentus: “His vast industry expertise will be invaluable in uniting the open banking ecosystem and global community.”
Giorgio Ferrero, Preta CEO, says Open Banking Europe needed to grow beyond an incubation stage.
“Konsentus is well-placed to pursue the initial ambition for OBE Europe to boost safe and secure open banking globally.”
Open banking progress
According to data from Platformable, there are more than 320 accredited providers of open banking APIs.
21% of European and UK fintech are accredited to build across more than 20 countries, and 59% are accredited to offer their services in their home country.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) reported last year that major banks on the continent have not helped the proliferation of open services.
It found seven separate areas where banks had introduced extra steps for customers. The EBA found these increased, rather than decreased, friction for users.
Some of these measures include 90-day re-authorisation of permissions, the addition of card reading peripherals, and extra authentication steps.
Related: Half of UK’s small businesses now use open banking, says OBIE
