Wrap up of 2019: The year of open banking?

December 17, 2019 | Louise Basse

As the year has come to a close, it’s time to look back and reflect on what has happened in 2019.

It’s safe to say that 2019 was quite the year. Open Banking has never moved faster. And the same goes for Nordic API Gateway.

Read on to recount some of the big moments of 2019 – and see where we’re headed in 2020.

PSD2: Expectations vs reality

Set to create more competition and transparency in the financial sector, there’s no doubt that the EU payment directive PSD2 was a long time coming. And with the final deadline in September, it’s fair to say that many expected 2019 to be the year of Open Banking.

But despite high expectations, the majority of banks across the EU struggled to live up to the technical implementation of the directive. The deadline in September showed that there still is a long way to go before banks can deliver dedicated interfaces that are mature enough for third parties to rely on, and thus, no banks were granted a fallback exemption by the Danish FSA. 

Nevertheless, PSD2 has started an exciting journey that will free financial data to the benefit of the consumer. The payment directive was only the start of Open Banking, and in 2020, we’re looking forward to seeing even more innovative solutions, from both banks and third parties, that will create frictionless financial futures for all.

Seamless payments for all

With PSD2 in place, one of the biggest moments for Nordic API Gateway in 2019 was launching our payment initiation service. In June, our tech team completed our payment initiation service platform. With that, banks, merchants, payment providers and ERP systems are able to create seamless payments flows at lower costs and reduced risks. 

Today, we’re thrilled to be live with our payment initiation services across the Nordics, and we’re even more excited to challenge the payment industry further in 2020. If you’re looking to skip the expensive credit card fees and allow consumers to make instant account-to-account payments to anywhere from anywhere, please feel free to drop us a line to hear more.

Preferred by the major banks in the Nordics

For us, there’s nothing more important than security and compliance. And this year, we closed a major deal with Finland’s largest bank, OP Financial Group to become their Open Banking partner. With OP Financial Group on the partner list, we’re serving most major banks in the Nordics, including Danske Bank, DNB, Jyske Bank. We believe that’s a testimony to the strong technical solution we’ve created with Nordic API Gateway. 

It shows that Nordic API Gateway lives up to the compliance level banks are asking for. PSD2 brings a clear advantage for banks, which are now able to initiate seamless payments at a fraction of the price and aggregate data from other players.

2020: Frictionless financial futures for all

That’s a wrap for 2019. If you’re curious to hear more about our product vision for 2020, feel free to read our interview with Nordic API Gateway’s Product Lead, Philip Thyssen. In the interview, Philip shares some specific things to be on the lookout for in 2020 – and in particular how banks can leverage Open Banking and create new revenue streams in the year to come.