The UK task force on Open Finance, announced by the government earlier this week, will be chaired by the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT).
Bim Afolami MP, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, detailed plans for acceleration of the UK’s Open Finance capabilities at the Innovate Finance Global Summit (IFGS) on Monday, kicking off Fintech Week 2024.
CFIT will take on the leadership role of the taskforce, which will be tasked with making recommendations to the government on how financial data can be used to improve SMEs’ access to credit.
Several commentators, including Innovate Finance as well as some prominent politicians, have lauded the UK’s standing in Open Banking. The Future of Payments Review has made some recommendations for how it can improve, however, and the government and financial sector are now looking at how the country can make the leap to Open Finance.
Ezechi Britton MBE, CEO of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology, said: “Britain has long led the way when it comes to innovation in financial services, and Open Finance is the next great opportunity for our economy.
“So we’re delighted to have been invited by the EST to chair a new industry-led taskforce of leading financial institutions and technology companies.
“CFIT was founded last year to unblock the barriers to the growth of the UK fintech industry and today’s announcement will ensure we continue to keep up the momentum.”
CFIT has itself called for the creation of a taskforce, outlining this as a key priority to push UK Open Finance forward in its February Blueprint Report. The taskforce will also work towards identifying and prioritising use cases for Open Finance.
Identifying data sets to be unlocked and APIs to be created to facilitate SME finance availability and commercially viable approaches for businesses to securely share financial data will also fall under its remit.
Financial services and fintech are core sectors within the wider British economy, and the government – which is facing an almost certain election this year – is focusing on these industries as a crucial means to drive growth.
This agenda saw the creation of CFIT back in 2022 by HM Treasury, having first been proposed in 2021. CFIT is a private sector body tasked with driving forward British financial innovation by bringing together experts from across finance and technology.
