40% of financial institutions could take a decade to implement open banking

A survey by open banking platform Tink has found that four in ten executives believe it will take their organisation between 5-10 years to fully implement open banking.

The survey – which was conducted across 12 countries and included 308 company executives from across the nations – also found that 37% believed the implementation of open banking could even take over a decade.

Of those executives surveyed, 37% in Spain, 34% in Italy and 30% in France claimed they were the most optimistic about their timescales for open banking implementation and predicted that their institutions’ objectives could achieved in less than five years.

The UK was found to be a key player in the open banking revolution, with 28% of executives expecting their organisations to deliver on their open banking aims in less than five years.

European challenger banks and wealth management companies were discovered to be the most bullish regarding implementation timescales, with 75% and 74% respectively claiming their institutions’ open banking aims could be achieved in less than a decade. Mortgage providers, credit providers and payment service providers proved to be a lot more conservative on implementation within the decade, however, at 55%, 56% and 57% respectively.

On an industry-wide basis, up to 83% of European financial executives said they believed open banking was having a ‘revolutionary effect’ on the financial services space, with positive sentiment climbing from 55% to 71% between 2019 and 2021.

The most positive countries on open banking were Belgium at 87%, the Netherlands at 85% and the UK at 81%. In the area of immediate opportunities, respondents referenced customer experience, launching new digital services and increasing revenue as the most alluring prizes – at 36%, 35% and 34% respectively.

Tink CEO and co-founder Daniel Kjellén, “As an early pioneer of open banking, it’s exciting to see our predictions come true, as the vast majority of European financial institutions are eager to embrace open banking’s true potential. But we know an open banking revolution won’t happen overnight and we recognise that the pace of change may be slow as institutions grapple with complex transformation projects that could take over a decade to deliver.

“And it’s not because of a lack of appetite on the part of financial institutions – many find themselves held back by legacy infrastructure or technological challenges. This is where FinTech partnerships can work to catalyse open banking strategies.

“Building open banking infrastructure is difficult – rather than embarking on in-house transformational projects which can take a decade to come to fruition, smart partnerships can shortcut timeframes and leapfrog legacy systems, allowing institutions to reap the rewards of open banking earlier than they might realise.”

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