Open banking has undergone a revolution during 2020. The pandemic restrictions changed how consumers interacted with their finances. Open banking has been increasing in popularity for a long time, but the catalyst effect of the pandemic has created a significant market opportunity and potential to disrupt the financial services landscape further.
In the UK, it is expected that 71% of SME’s and 64% of adults will adopt open banking by 2022. The number of open banking users worldwide is expected to grow at an average annual rate of nearly 50% between 2020 and 2024. The opportunity is massive, and with strong talent behind it, very lucrative.
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How can businesses take advantage of open banking opportunities?
Recognising an opportunity is one thing, capturing it is another; businesses will need to be efficient, fast and hungry to thrive in this market, and they can only do that with the very best talent.
Start-ups will require strong talent, executives who are able to translate the opportunity presented into a robust strategy. This is especially important with the vast sums invested by companies hoping to turn a profit; 45% of executives have a budget of above €50-€100m, so the ‘who’ you have behind it is critical.
How is this affecting the talent market?
Compliance is the most popular area of investment with Open Banking presenting a whole range of risk and regulatory challenges. Compliance protocols are critical to business success so employers will continue to focus on this area, particularly where it both fulfils legal requirements and enhances of ease of use for customers. Consequently strong compliance talent can expect the market to tilt in their favour as demand heightens generosity.
Security will be a major concern, not just in terms of compliance but in terms of business and consumer trust. At present 48% of retail banking customers and 54% of SME’s state that security is their biggest concern with Open Banking data sharing. Business will need to invest in cybersecurity both to protect assets and in their marketing campaigns to drive the point home to potential customers.
Open banking is a data centric sector, with an organisation’s ability to develop new products dependant on quality data, particularly as offerings become more customer centric and diversified. Consistency and accuracy is critical, so key talent in the form of data scientists, engineers and analysts will be essential, in addition to the latest diagnostic tools and protocols.
Businesses will be managing vast amounts of data while trying to maintain organisational efficiency at a maximum, so experience in agile methodology will be highly valuable. Agility and convenience are watchwords in this sector, with companies able to present the consumer with the least hassle ultimately coming out on top. Tech talent will therefore be at a premium, in order to construct platforms capable of efficiently packaging constantly evolving systems.
Interested to explore more?
Open banking is a fast moving market. Connect with Headcount today to discuss opportunities in Europe and worldwide.