SPAA: open access beyond PSD2

On April 18^th the Dutch Payments Association (Betaalvereniging Nederland) hosted its 'SPAA: open access beyond PSD2' event, with presentations and discussions on the latest developments and opportunities for open banking in the Netherlands. Almost 150 bankers, PSP’s, regulators, consultants and merchants attended the event that was moderated by Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly, Head of Corporates & International Banking at FIS, board member at EWPN and at the Payments Association.

The event kicked off with an insightful presentation on the current state of open banking in the Netherlands, by Hessel Kuik, chairman of PSD2SIG and CEO of Bizcuit. He showed that open banking has not yet fully caught on, but the industry has moved in the right direction. Charles Damen, chairman of the Open Banking Working Group at UK Finance and CPO at Token, provided insights on how open banking is shaped in the UK. Emanuel van Praag, Professor of Financial Technology and Law at EUR and Attorney-at-Law at Kennedy van der Laan, offered a broad vison on open banking and open finance: where will financial data sharing go in the future? Gijs Boudewijn, co-chairman of the SPAA multi-stakeholder group and director of the Payments Association, guided the audience through the latest developments for the SEPA Payment Account Access (SPAA) scheme.

The official program was concluded with an animated panel discussion on the SPAA scheme with Jan van Vonno, head of strategy at Tink, Atze Faas, payments advisor at EuroCommerce, Gijs Boudewijn and Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly. The panel members voiced their concerns and expectations on how SPAA and Open Banking should move forward, from the perspective of banks, PSPs and merchants.

Attendees from fintechs and PSPs were inspired by Charles Damen’s presentation. They call on regulators and stakeholders to ensure a level playing field across SEPA: “The UK shows that we should involve the consumer and competition authorities, make sure the fees for open banking are competitive, improve the user experience and lower the barriers for consumers.” Some consultants were challenged by Emanuel van Praag: “What will open finance and open data look like in ten years? How can we prevent unmanageable fragmentation and how will consumers manage their data and consent?” Bankers appreciated the exposé by Hessel Kuik: “I enjoyed to hear about his experiences and observations, by someone from ‘the other side’; crystal clear and inspiring.” Representatives from merchants approved Atze Faas’ contribution: “Retailers will gladly buy into new payment methods, provided they get value for money.” Many attendees agreed on a similar recurring opinion during the event: “Better a good open banking API with competitive fees than a bad API for free!”

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