Last May, European fintech Tink surveyed nearly 270 financial sector executives in 17 countries to find out their views on the development of Open Banking, which describes the exchange of data between financial institutions and third-party suppliers. The results show that French banks are particularly in favor.
A positive attitude to Open Banking
While the Directive on Online Payment Services (DSP2) now requires European banks to facilitate access to their data via APIs, connectors enabling applications to interact with each other securely, French bankers seem more optimistic than their European counterparts. In fact, according to a survey conducted by Tink and YouGov in 2019, almost 60% of French players perceive the move towards Open Banking as positive for the sector, compared with a European average of 59%. The majority of those surveyed see Open Banking as a source of opportunities for their business. Only 20% of French respondents feel "very" or "somewhat" negative about this trend.
These results can be attributed to a number of factors, starting with the actions taken by the Banque de France to raise awareness of the opportunities offered by PSD2 among all financial players. They can also be explained by the choice made by banking groups to partner with fintechs to offer new services to customers.
Opportunities and fears linked to the development of Open Banking
The French believe that Open Banking can help develop better digital services, increase market opportunities and reduce customer acquisition costs. According to the survey, they are well aware of the potential of the digital market.
However, French bankers do have some concerns. Their main concern is customer loyalty (76% of French players are worried about this, compared with 56% for the European average). Furthermore, while at European level, the report shows that attitudes towards Open Banking are often correlated with the regulations in force, in France, players fear above all thearrival of new entrants on the market (45%), notably new payment service providers (PSPs). This concern is essentially based on the fear that consumers will want to change banks.
Finally, while regulatory compliance is seen as the main challenge by European countries, French executives say that the most difficult will be to bring Open Banking-related innovations to market (38%), and to select the products to be modernized and launched on the market (38%).
A study published by Fintech Tink reveals the unexpected optimism of French bankers regarding the development of Open Banking. Despite its concerns, France is one of the countries most inclined to seize new opportunities.