EU Banks To Open Their APIs To Third Party Providers, In Two Days
This thing is happening for some time now, but given the intrinsic nature of news, which thrives on spectacular and unexpected, it always went under the radar. Some EU lawmakers working on some banking regulations is falling below the "boring" level for every news outlet. But again, folks, this is happening for as long as 2009.
What is happening, exactly?
Well, there is this law (or directive, because it's coming from the EU Commission) called PSD2. Its name comes from Payment Services Directive and it's set to come in action on January 13rd 2018. That' basically in 2 days. Yes, you read that right, 2 days.
What this directive means?
Well it means banks will have to open up their APIs to third party providers. Some of them were already doing it on a case by case strategy, but form now on it will be a law requirement. That means, for instance, that you could have a unified mobile banking app for all your bank accounts, opened at 3-4 banks, and you won't even notice that. Well, maybe if you're left without funds in one of your accounts, then you can safely pick the bank which has funds in your account.
There are a few privacy questions related to this and the security requirements for this directive to be implemented in a correct way for the involved actors are rather tight. But it's a huge step towards a decentralized financial experience, a step which comes, for once, not from a technology, like the blockchain, but from regulators.
If you fancy a spiced up reading with more details about PSD2, the Revolut blog has more details. But if you're more of a Wikipedia type of guy, just head over the boring facts (that article still needs to be updated, though).
What to expect?
Well, it may not be evident in the first two days that this is happening, but there will be a lot of movement in the fintech startup area, with more and more third party payment providers coming up in the next few months. Tighter integrations of current crypto to fiat exchanges should appear too.
Also, please note that this will happen only in the SEPA space (Single Euro Payment Area).
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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More access is always good. Knowledge is power they say
So is this a good thing?
If so why?
It's a sign of decentralization. Access to bank accounts is not privileged anymore and it can open paths to innovative payment ways. The downside is that if the implementation is buggy, there could be serious privacy issues.
That's what I was thinking. Seems like an easy way for hackers to slip through backdoors if not implemented correctly as you said.
Cool but it seems banks don't care about it yet https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/financial-services/assets/pdf/waiting-until-the-eleventh-hour.pdf
that's a great update thanks for sharing this
This is good news in my opinion. Thanks for sharing!
the price of many crypto will go up after 2 days if you will look at what you are talking about. I look forward to 2 days later
@dragosroua
Are you serious???????????? @mhmtdr0
yes bitcoin value will go up after 2 days. with most of the same crypto
@pappy
Alright @mhmtdr0
Good information thanks for sharing that would be a good news i guess? @dragosroua
TO YOU Is this good new or bad news ?@dragosroua
Mixed, but mostly on the good side. It depends on how the privacy issues are tackled.
Oh alright, looking forward to seeing what happens after @dragoroua
Good news.Thanks for sharing it
The world of money moves and the law moves too, thanks for sharing !!
upvoted and resteemed.