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UK standard-setter Open Banking Limited (OBL) has opened a consultation on a forthcoming update to the country’s open banking standards, known as v4.0.
The non-profit is updating the UK’s open banking standards under a regulatory order known as CMA9, which is named for the country’s nine systemically important banks as identified by the Competition and Markets Authority.
The update is intended to align with international best practices, including ISO 20022, which regulates data exchange between financial institutions, and FAPI 1.0 Advanced, a security standard.
The updates also include improvements to information flows on topics such as payment status and error messages, in line with recommendations from the UK’s Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC) introduced in December and known as "workstream 4".
“This release is a significant achievement, marking the first major release since 2018 to ensure the UK Open Banking Standard remains aligned with underlying global standards and provides a platform for improved information flows, benefiting all ecosystem participants,” said Fiona Hamilton, OBL standards director.
“We are grateful for the widespread support and collaboration of the ecosystem in developing these updates and look forward to receiving further feedback during the consultation period.”
The planned changes also include updates based on decisions made by the technical design authority regarding read/write specifications.
Additionally, one of the CMA9 banks — the consultation does not specify which — is asked to make changes to ensure it complies with the new regulatory requirements.
OBL has also drafted updates to both the Management Information (MI) specification and the Customer Experience Guidelines, as well as measures to address known minor issues such as mistakes found in prior documents.
OBL said that it has also updated the Operational Guidelines and is exploring migration strategies to minimise disruption to the ecosystem resulting from these changes, the first in more than five years.
Responses to the consultation need to be submitted by Thursday, May 16. OBL then aims to release v4.0 as the final version of the standard by the end of June 2024.
