The future of financial services is open

Open banking, still considered an emerging technology, is already enabling a range of financial products and services beyond simply aggregating someone’s financial accounts. Using the power of connection, open banking is transforming how consumers view their finances, open accounts, transfer funds, and make payments. It’s even helping consumers better manage their money by identifying recurring subscription fees and incorporating recommendations on how to improve their credit. 

There are three significant benefits that open banking can bring to consumers:

• More effective competition – As it becomes easier for consumers to make apples-to-apples comparisons on products, services, and prices from financial service providers, it also increases competition by reducing the barrier to entry for new fintech providers. 
• Increased innovation – As collaboration accelerates between traditional banks and new fintech entrants, the result is greater innovation and the delivery of enhanced products and services.
• Enriched consumer experience – As new players emerge to optimize the value chain of financial services enabled by robust regulatory and security standards, ultimately the consumer will benefit greatly through frictionless experiences in every facet of their financial life.

Open and embedded finance is everywhere

The emergence of open banking, further ignited by the pandemic, has fostered a transformation of open and embedded finance in almost everything consumers touch. You want to download and use a fitness app? Be prepared to connect to a payment method that can include a debit card, credit card, or bank account. Want to order food from your favorite delivery app? Be equally prepared for the various payment options that connect to your banks or cards. 

Embedded and open finance, powered by open banking, has become ubiquitous and widely accepted. Consumers from all segments have accepted this as the norm, and the trend will continue to expand to the degree that almost every app will have some form of open and embedded finance capabilities—all powered by open banking.

Convenience powers growth and acceptance

Above all else, convenience is the number one driver of using technology to manage finances, and open banking is the underlying technology that creates that opportunity. Consumers are looking to save time, save money, improve their financial health, and automate the financial experience. At the same time, the use of technology to manage one’s finances has become mainstream. Nine in 10 people use technology to manage their money.¹ Consumers are using digital apps, products, and services for simple tasks such as paying bills and general banking, and they are also performing more complex tasks such as applying for mortgages, investing, or filing taxes. Open banking enables all of these capabilities to be simple, convenient, transparent, and trusted.

Bud: An open banking and AI solution positioned as the go-to provider of transactional intelligence and personalization

Bud’s intelligent open banking platform and technology is based on transactional AI models that enable financial institutions to personalize digital products and automate decisions. Bud’s platform is used by customers to automate affordability checks, which previously required teams to spend hours trawling through transaction data and bank statements. Other large-scale organizations, including HSBC and Credit Karma, use Bud’s technology to help customers understand their finances by providing thoughtful data insights and personalized actions. This enables Bud to connect people with better, more personalized financial services, all underpinned by advanced encryption services to keep their data secure.

We’re excited about our strategic investment in Bud’s Series B Round, reflecting our continued commitment to the future of connected financial technology. And we join existing investors in the round, TDR Capital and Outward VC. Bud’s Series B follows its Series A investment in 2019, which saw Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and ANZ fund the company’s vision for technological automation of complex financial data.

¹ “The Rise of Open Banking,” MasterCard, mastercard.com.
² Referenced on Bud’s website, www.thisisbud.com.