iwoca adds Barclays and HSBC to Open Banking connections

Open Banking allows customers to give verified third-parties access to their bank data via a secure application programming interface (API). The APIs mean business owners who bank with either Barclays, HSBC or Lloyds can now provide up to five years of transaction history in seconds when applying for a revolving credit facility or long-term loan with iwoca.

According to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), these three banks combined accounted for between 50 and 80 percent of the market share of UK business current accounts in 2015, the last year for which figures are available.

However, a survey of 1,000 small business owners, carried out in November on behalf of iwoca, found that almost three quarters (73 percent) could not correctly identify what Open Banking is.

Following this announcement, iwoca confirmed it will continue to work on finalising connections with the remaining six high street banks, adding that connections with Santander and NatWest are close to being completed.

Mark Chidley, independent SME representative to the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) said: “This is very good news for the UK’s small businesses who, according to recent government figures, employ over 16 million people and have a combined turnover of over £2trn.

“Open Banking has a powerful role to play in bringing together members of its ecosystem to provide small businesses with the ability to manage their businesses in a more productive, efficient and profitable way – helping to mitigate persistent challenges such as late payments, low productivity and inefficient access to credit. The OBIE looks forward to continuing to bring the many actors in the ecosystem together in order to fully explore and realise the benefits that open banking can bring to small business owners and UK plc.”