A whitepaper by payment service provider Ecommpay has found 48% of all UK consumers have some level of confusion regarding open banking and its uses.
The paper – titled Beyond the pandemic: The outlook for Open Banking – included the results of two UK surveys that were conducted in collaboration with Censuswide. The research was completed in March of this year.
Alongside the almost half of respondents who didn’t fully understand open banking, a further 10% of business leaders professed to not understanding how open banking could help their company. Only 14% of UK consumers said they completely understood open banking.
Up to 24% of 25-34 years old stated that they fully understood open banking, while only 7% of over 55’s said they understood it – with 40% of the same age group saying they had ‘no idea’ what open banking was.
It was also found that only 36% of business leaders who took part in the survey said their company had adopted open banking before this year. Meanwhile, 32% said that while they had not implemented it, they would like to during 2021.
There were also insights regarding evolving consumer preferences in relation to checkout experiences in the whitepaper, with close to 71% of consumers said they would very or somewhat likely to abandon their purchase in their chosen checkout method was not available. One in five consumers said the payment process is ‘very’ important in the brand experience, while 50% said it was somewhat important.
The whitepaper highlighted that while nations such as the US and Canada enact their own open banking programs, this recent data ‘shines a light on consumer perceptions’ of open banking and the possibilities for British firms to use this form of payment technology to thrive.
Ecommpay said that the UK ‘must improve its open banking knowledge if it wishes to maintain its position as a global leader in the sector’.
Ecommpay UK and Western Europe executive director Paul Marcantonio said, “Technological innovation and social change is taking place at breakneck speed, and it can be hard for businesses and consumers to keep up.
“The lack of understanding and slow implementation of Open Banking products shows the need for further education, and that’s what we’ve provided in this whitepaper. This will ensure that businesses and consumers of all types will be able to take full advantage of Open Banking’s benefits.”
