Fintech Industry Demands Access to BoE Accounts

UK fintech firms are currently in talks with the Bank of England to secure access to settlement accounts, a privilege only currently on offer to big banks, with fintech firms having to pay them for second-hand access. Jens Bader, payments expert and Chief Commercial Officer at Secure Trading, a UK-based payments company, believe these are valid demands and would represent a big win for the industry. 

“This is certainly a valid demand from the e-money and payments community. Extending rights to open Bank of England bank accounts and liberating e-money issuers from the clutches of banks would be a big win for these organisations individually. It would also give much more transparency and points of control back to the regulator if e-money issuers were to become further integrated.

“E-money has been a slow but remarkable revolution, the secret catalyst behind payments innovation and new services. Whilst the regulation on e-money issuers is quite tight, the commercial opportunities are increasingly limited by not having access to core-banking services – or due to the reliance on conflicting entities to get such access granted. It’s crystal clear that the traditional financial services sector is breaking open and needs to open further still, and these demands are a reflection of just how much banks are being squeezed in the online payments sector today.

“We’re looking at an “API-driven” era ahead. APIs help to build more integrated and seamless systems, create better customer experience and de-couple certain financial services from traditional banks. Maybe in the future we’ll see third membership status extended to card schemes too.” Said Jens Bader