Barclays open banking is giving customers a new way to manage accounts held across multiple financial institutions from within a single mobile banking application. The bank has become the first UK High Street Bank to allow customers to connect eligible current accounts from other banks and view their balances and transactions alongside their Barclays accounts.
The feature uses open banking API technology to securely connect accounts while allowing customers to control which information they share and disconnect linked accounts whenever they choose. For Barclays, the capability could make its mobile banking app a more comprehensive destination for customers who maintain relationships with multiple financial institutions.
To be a leader in digital and innovation Barclays becomes the first UK High Street Bank to allow customers to bring their current account into its mobile banking app.
Announced on September 12th customers who have personal or business accounts with Lloyd’s, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, RBS, NatWest, Nationwide, or Santander can choose to quickly and securely view their balances and transactions when they log into the Barclays mobile banking app.
Open Banking APIs Bring Multiple Accounts Into One App
This new feature runs on an open banking API technology. This technology according to Barclays is designed with customer security at a hart and customers will also be able to view all their data permission history for added security and peace of mind. In addition to safety, Barclay looks to make this customer experience seamless by allowing them merely selecting there are other banks from within the Barclays mobile banking app at which point they will be securely redirected to there other bank’s app or online banking page to choose which accounts if any they would like to connect with. Once the account connection is made the user then can disconnect the account at any time.
Barclays Aims to Simplify Money Management
When asked about the app improvements Catherine McGrath, Managing Director of Retail Banking at Barclays stated, “Today, lots of people have current accounts with more than one bank, so keeping track of your finances can be tricky as well as time-consuming. Our new feature is designed to solve this problem, offering a simple and secure way to get a clearer picture of your finances, all in the place six million of our customers already go to do their banking.”
UK Open Banking Could Offer Lessons for U.S. Banks
As more UK Banks start to adapt and enable this open banking API technology into their platforms, US financial institutions should pay very close attention to consumer behaviors and trends as they could provide critical data on opportunities and threats of enabling this new technology.
The ability to view accounts from competing banks within one application could change how consumers interact with their primary financial institution. Rather than requiring customers to move between several apps or websites, Barclays open banking creates a consolidated view that could make managing multiple accounts easier while keeping Barclays at the center of the customer’s digital banking experience.
As other UK banks adopt open banking APIs, the market could provide valuable insight into how consumers respond to greater control over their financial data and account connections. U.S. financial institutions should watch these developments closely, particularly whether customers embrace account aggregation and whether providing access to competing accounts strengthens or weakens the relationship between consumers and their primary bank.
