OPEN BANKING IN INDIA

Open banking is defined as the sharing and leveraging of customer-permission data by banks with third-party developers and firms to build applications and services, including for example those that provide real-time payments, greater financial transparency options for account holders, marketing, cross-selling opportunities. Individuals jurisdictions may define open banking differently.

- Hartosh Kuamr Srivastava

Technology has connected the entire world. Through internet connections and electronic gadgets the reach to information, services, and products has become child's play. The innovative technology has enabled the banks and the financial institutions the access the untouched market segments, people who remained unreachable. In recent years, technology-driven modes of financing, new financial business models, specialized financial services, and products are emerging and driving FinTech innovation in areas such as P2P lending, wealth management, microfinance, smart contract, artificial Intelligence, machine learning-based decision analysis systems, and Robo-advisory, etc. and have started to shape the regulatory engagements and discourse. Integral to this discourse is the issues concerning data sharing, data access, and to a large extent data democratization.

In addition to the extensive focus on payments channels and transactions, accessing the financial data of the consumers is also looked on. Digital exchange of financial data can become the building block for new emerging service models, clearing inefficiencies in the process and venturing new product possibilities. Thus regulators acknowledge that enabling a simplified framework for the financial information data exchange has the potential to transform the financial systems and may lead to product innovation and provide better financial services to the consumers and end-users. Therefore, the financial data access and distribution has significant implications not only for the concerned stakeholder institutions but also for future economic growth.