More countries around the world are following in the footsteps of UK open banking, but now the UK is set to go even further with initiatives designed to boost competition in financial services.

This week’s open banking roundup takes a look at those efforts and examines the latest banking and FinTech mergers that are advancing the modernization of business banking.

UK gears up for next phase of Open Banking

the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) seeks to pave the way for the next phase of open banking in the market and has now launched a public consultation to explore the opportunity to create an independent non-profit entity to accelerate development and adoption open banking applications. According to Reuters, the surveillance effort is aimed at stimulating the development of FinTechs and stimulating competition in the sector. Banking lobby group UK Finance has reportedly presented a plan for such an entity, although the CMA urges banks not to exert “inappropriate” influence over it.

“While the largest banks have shown signs of adopting open banking, they may also be prompted to slow down the development of the open banking ecosystem, where this conflicts with their own business objectives,” he said. the CMA said in a statement.

FreshBooks and Salt Edge announce open banking initiative

Open banking is not just for banks. Concrete example: accounting platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) FreshBooks announced a Partnership with an open banking technology company Salt edge to unlock the banking and other financial data of its small businesses via open banking. Salt Edge will provide its bank data aggregation service, allowing FreshBooks to automatically manage finances by linking their EU bank and credit accounts to the portal.

“As open banking spreads further in the financial services market, [SMBs], leading-edge accounting platforms benefit, ”said Lisa Gutu, Business Development Manager, Salt Edge, in a declaration.

Payrailz leads the digitization of Alliant CU payments

Caisse populaire Alliant exploits Payrailz to digitize its payment offer, according to a Press release. The statement said Payrailz will power the new credit union (UC) digital payment platforms, positioning the financial institution (FI) – Illinois’ largest UC – to compete with agile FinTechs. Customers today demand a fully digital experience, and Alliant has said it wants its payment offering to match its digitized business model. The UC does not operate physical branches, but rather allows customers to access products and services entirely online.

Canadian Western Bank and Temenos collaborate for SMEs

With a focus on SMEs, Canadian Western Bank deploy a digital banking solution, and he turns to the banking software company Temenos to fuel the offer. Temenos said the collaboration with the bank will incorporate Temenos’ Virtual COO technology. The tool is built on the company’s digital banking platform that connects SMEs to a variety of financial management functionalities, including forecasting and planning of business scenarios, and real-time cash management through consolidation of banking and other financial data.

DueDil connects FIs to RegTech

DueDil, a regulatory technology company (RegTech), announced the deployment of a partnership program designed to help financial and insurance service providers access rich data about their SMB customers. Through this program, DueDil will connect its partners, including banks, to its technology which includes continuous updates, its real-time monitoring solution for SMEs. DueDil noted that the program aims to connect entities with valuable data for a range of use cases, including Knowledge of Your Business (KYB) checks.

Citadele adopts nCino banking technology

Based on Natvia Citadele Bank will adopt nCinoThe bank’s banking operating system as part of its modernization push, the organizations said, with the FI using nCino technology to strengthen its business lending operations, according to a Press release. The bank said it is looking to improve the processing of business loan applications and make improvements to its overall business banking offering. Thanks to nCino, Citadele will replace the existing and legacy infrastructure to increase its efficiency and digitize its back office with the aim of improving the customer experience for companies and SMEs.

“The nCino platform will provide us with the next valuable step in our business and [SMB] banking transformation as we seek to continue implementing our digital strategy in the Baltic States, ”Vladislavs Mironovs, chief strategy officer and member of the board of directors, said in a statement.