Business

What Open Banking Services does Equifax offer?

Once we become an Account Information Services Provider (AISP), and with customer consent, we will be able to access Open Banking on behalf of our clients to retrieve any relevant bank account data and deliver it back as a service via our own APIs.

We will be turning this data into a new suite of products and services such as aggregation, categorisation, identity services and a range of creditworthiness and affordability insights designed to give a view of a consumer or businesses spending habits in real-time.

Which type of lenders is this relevant for?

Any organisation can take advantage of the Open Banking data. As long as you are regulated and acting in the interests of consumers then we can look to integrate our services to help you unlock your customers’ data.

How can I use Open Banking data?

How you use Open Banking data will depend on the nature of your business.

If you are a bank, apart from providing access to your bank transaction data to other banks and third parties, you may be interested in developing solutions using other banks’ APIs or/and building innovative new solutions to your own customer base. We can help you to explore ways of monetising your APIs and to trial new products and services from emerging fintechs.

If you are an online retailer or other third party, who needs to get access to bank transaction data, you may be looking for the right partners who can help you to utilise this data to enhance your customer on-boarding and credit decisioning. We will be able to operate on your behalf to retrieve your customers’ account information as a third party service provider or you could use our insight APIs and delivery platforms.

As a start-up or a fintech, you may be interested in an AISP platform to replace your existing aggregation technology, co-create new solutions or simply find the right partner to distribute your own solutions to an ecosystem of financial service providers. We have an extensive sales team and unique relationships with a range of financial service providers which we can help you to access.

Contact us

How long does it take to integrate the data?

API specifications will be available via our Developer Portal, which will be available soon.

Integration and access to our developer portal is the quickest and most straight forward way of connecting to our APIs and sandbox. You will be provided with access within a few hours via our web request portal or by contacting us.

What are your plans for PSD2 and other Open Data sources?

The aim of our open data programme is to provide the most comprehensive suite of data sources via a single platform. With a global presence in over 20 countries, we are monitoring developments in the open data space to ensure it delivers the most advanced solutions to its broad client base. This includes the Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2) in Europe which will open up a range of new open APIs from a range of EU financial services organisations. We are also monitoring the global open data landscape to ensure we are connected to any emerging APIs that might help us better service us customers.

Consumer

What is Open Banking?

Open Banking is one of the wide-reaching reforms being implemented by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) aimed at increasing innovation and improving competition. It will enable personal customers and small businesses to share their data securely with other banks and third parties, making it possible to compare products on the basis of their own requirements and to manage their accounts without having to use their bank.

How does it work?

Open Banking will use Application Programming Interfaces (API) to share customer information securely. For example, third party providers will be able to use open banking APIs to see your transaction information to tell you what you might save when considering other service providers. Other providers such as Equifax are looking to use the APIs to enable consumers to more easily share their financial data via digital channels to help speed up credit application journeys.

Why has it been introduced?

Led by the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), the Open Banking Working Group (OBWG) was set up in September 2015 at the request of HM Treasury to explore how data could be used to help people transact, save, borrow, lend and invest their money. It published its framework for the UK Open Banking Standard which has sought to create an open API for data that’s shared, including customer data, open data API for market information and relevant open data.

How does it benefit me?

It depends completely on how you want to use your own data. If you need a loan or a mortgage quickly and you have an online bank account, it will be much easier to let a lender access your bank account digitally to verify your income, employer, affordability etc. rather than supplying supporting documentation manually.

You could also compare financial products in the market by allowing a third party to assess your existing bank account and switch you to products that might be more suitable for you.

If you don’t want to share your data at this stage, that’s fine – Open Banking puts you in complete control of your bank account data.

Will it affect my credit score?

No – Open Banking data is not currently used within any of our scoring solutions so you can share your data safe keeping in mind that your credit score will not be impacted. In future, we would offer Open Banking services alongside credit score to ensure access a wider choice of financial products that are best suited to you

How do I qualify for this service?

Anyone with a UK online bank account (personal or business) with AIBG, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS or Santander and all their subsidiaries can choose to consent to their data being accessed.

From early 2018, those with an online account for their credit card, savings and e-wallet account should also be able to use the service and share their data with approved third parties that have integrated the capability.

How do I know I can trust the company asking for access to my bank account details?

You can run an online search to ensure that the Open Banking provider has been approved for an Open Banking license by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA is responsible for ensuring licenses are awarded to companies that pass the strict criteria required for access to Open Banking data.

Will my data be shared without my consent?

No. The data will not be shared without you specifically consenting to it.

The Open Banking guidelines recommend a three stage process for data sharing:

  • Consent – You will be asked to provide consent to share your data.
  • Authentication – You will be redirected to your own bank and asked to log in and authenticate yourself.
  • Authorisation – You will then be redirected back to the third party/lender and asked to confirm that you still wish to share the data and what this entails.

To see how it works, you could watch our Customer Journey animation on the homepage.

Where will my data be stored, if at all?

Initially, we will not store any of your account information, although you may be asked whether your data can be used to improve our future products and services. It is entirely up to you if you choose to allow this.

Why is Equifax involved in Open Banking?

For over 20 years Equifax Limited has successfully analysed data to provide insights for our clients including banks, building societies and lenders in general. We believe that combining new and open data with traditional sources will transform the way creditors manage and serve consumers, improving financial accessibility, consumer choice and customer experience.

Can I stop sharing my data at any point?

Yes – consent can be revoked by you at any point by contacting your bank or the third party provider of the service.

Developer

What Open Banking APIs are available?

Numerous APIs are being built by Account Servicing Payment Service Providers (ASPSPs), Account Information Service Providers (AISPs) and Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) for the provision of open banking services. Consumers and small businesses will provide consent to AISPs to approach the banks to share their online bank transaction data with other banks and third parties securely.

What APIs does Equifax have?

We are currently in the process of applying for a license to operate as an AISP. As such we are building APIs which will enable our clients to access bank transaction data (BTD) through us and gain access to our analytical capabilities which will provide insights on this data. The new APIs are designed to help process, categorise and enhance transaction data.

What can I do with the APIs?

  • Access account information and transaction history (credit and debits)
  • Process, categorise and enhance transaction data
  • Perform income and expenditure verification
  • Perform identity and account verification

For a full API product roadmap please contact us.

Which banks will provide API integration for access to bank transaction data?

The nine institutions (referred to as the CMA9) that are mandated to provide access to bank transaction data are: AIBG, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS and Santander. The APIs include all subsidiary brands of these banks such as Halifax and Bank of Scotland under the Lloyds Banking Group.

Can I test the Equifax APIs?

We are building a bespoke set of test data within our beta environment to allow users of our AISP service to see what data might be available with explicit consumer consent. In addition to this, we will be integrated into any test environments made available directly from the participating banks. You will be able access our Beta APIs through our Developer Portal, which will be available soon.

How do you ensure security?

We have implemented the industry standards for security authentication, using the documentation provided by Open Banking. This also includes implementing mutual authentication transport layer security (TLS) v1.2 to authenticate connectivity between our clients and ourselves. In addition, we have implemented OAuth2, the industry standard protocol for authorisation and OpenID Connect, the identity layer on top of OAuth2.

If you can not find what you are looking for above, our specialist team of consultants would be happy to assist you with your Open Banking enquiries.