Tink blog

The latest EBA Opinion calls for the removal of obstacles that obstruct TPP’s access to accounts for open banking services. Here’s our take on the most important bits of the Opinion, and what it means for banks and TPPs alike.

Northmill is on a mission to build personalised banking services that improve people’s finances. By plugging Tink’s open banking technology into its app, Northmill will deliver a seamless and relevant customer experience.

We interviewed Matteo Concas, Head of Global Digital Banking Solutions at Enel X. Here’s why one of the largest energy companies in Europe is looking to financial services – and open banking – to bring more value to their customers.

When charging or paying out customers, businesses rely on them to provide their account details. But people can make mistakes – or try to commit fraud. Thankfully, account verification can save everyone a lot of grief.

papernest built a platform that makes subscription management effortless – and it already has more than 600,000 users across Europe. Here’s how it's using open banking to deliver a seamless user experience.

AccountsIQ is on a mission to bring smart accounting to small and medium-sized businesses. So it’s teamed up with Tink for open banking technology, to streamline bank account connectivity and improve the user experience.

BNL has added multi-banking to its mobile app, giving customers a 360-degree view of their finances in one place. The partnership will drive innovation for BNL, using Tink tech to take new services to its 2.5 million customers in Italy.

Gone are the days when banks and fintechs battled for the financial services crown, as collaboration proves king. Tink’s Rafa Plantier takes a look at how banks and fintechs have worked out they’re better together.

With new possibilities brought on by open banking, banks need to overcome internal challenges to beat the race to deliver the best possible customer experience. Here are three key steps to taking advantage of this opportunity.

Subscription management app Dyme is teaming up with Tink to launch its money saving service across Europe. By plugging account aggregation technology into its app, Dyme is helping users view, switch and cancel their subscriptions in seconds.

Co-led by new investor Eurazeo Growth and existing investor Dawn Capital, Tink has announced an €85 million investment round extension, to accelerate its growth plans and expand payment initiation across Europe.

Greenly is the force behind 2.5 million French people measuring their carbon footprint – and improving it. Now with Tink, Greenly is set on taking its app across Europe, and putting banks at the centre of its plans to help shift behaviour.

make!mpact needed a partner with the same global mindset and a friction-free way of aggregating account data, to bring simplicity to investing with impact. So they’re partnering with Tink to show how sustainable investments are.

A whopping 70% of C-level executives see the opportunities of open banking, while just 45% of product owners agree. Tink’s latest research report dives into the task banks face aligning their organisations to make the most of open banking.

Find out how Swedish startup Avy is upgrading the renting experience for property owners and tenants by putting real people at the centre of real estate – and how Tink is helping improve one of the cornerstones of their product.

We talk to NatWest Retail Bank’s Chief Digital Information Officer, Wendy Redshaw, about what it takes to build the UK’s leading digital banking service – and how its customers are reaping the benefits.

Norwegian company Tjommi is leveraging open banking to create fairer shopping experiences. Here’s how they’re increasing transparency to price match guarantees and helping people take advantage of refund policies – without any hassle.

When it comes to the top open banking opportunities, not all countries see eye-to-eye. Here are the open banking use cases being prioritised in five different markets – and the differences between them.

Tink and Eurobits’ union is official. The acquisition is complete and Eurobits is becoming part of Tink. As a result, Tink’s new and existing customers can benefit from broader connectivity across Europe.

Not sure what open banking APIs are, and getting tired of hearing about them all the time? We’re looking past the technicalities and explaining the term in plain English.

The life of a fledgling startup is rarely glamorous – but it is exhilarating. To celebrate entrepreneurship, we’ll share a few startup stories over the coming months – starting with Tink’s own, as described by an OG Tinker.

Multi-banking makes it easier for people to see the full picture of all their finances by gathering all their accounts in one view. Here’s why that can make a big difference for consumers and businesses.

Too many people pay unnecessarily high interest on their installments, credit cards or private loans. Anyfin wanted to fix that, and make it easy for people to manage their economy. Here’s how they’re leveraging tech to do it.

We’re always on about how great open banking is, and how it’s ramping up innovation and competition in the financial services industry. But what is it, exactly? And why does it matter? Here’s a (very simple) rundown.

The news is out. We’re teaming up with Lydia as its open banking technology partner across Europe, to streamline the app’s bank connectivity and create new services for millions of  customers.

To stay ahead of the curve and master the open banking transformation, bankers need to start looking beyond compliance, and be smart about where to invest.

Not sure what payment initiation is, what it looks like, or why you should care? We’re breaking it down into simple terms. Here’s how it works, and what advantages it brings to consumers and businesses alike.

We interviewed Michael Anseeuw, Head of Retail Banking and long-time open banking evangelist at BNP Paribas Fortis. Here’s what he had to share about the challenges of being an early adopter, and his vision for a customer-centric approach.

We’re partnering with Enel X Financial Services to take digital money management to millions of its customers. Through engaging tools and personalised advice, its customers can make smarter financial decisions.

We’re teaming up with OpenWrks, a leading UK provider of open banking applications, in a deal that sees us acquire its aggregation platform – strengthening our connectivity and coverage significantly in a key market for Tink.

Driftio makes it simple to build a personal financial balance sheet, and share data swiftly and securely. Users can then get value from their data through greater insight, personalised advice or better deals. Here’s how it works.

Our newly released survey report takes a closer look at open banking use cases, and which opportunities financial executives across Europe are most anticipating. Get to know more about the top five picks.

From an expanding ecosystem, to improvements in APIs, and increased investment – open banking has come a long way since the PSD2 deadline in 2019. Here’s how we see the progress that’s been made, and where work still needs to be done.

It all started with a hackathon challenge, and ended with an app that uses open banking to help those financially impacted by the coronavirus. Here’s how sprovid is helping Norwegian tenants on temporary leave get discounts on their rent.

Data is great, but it can often be made better. That’s what data enrichment is all about. Here’s what data enrichment can do for financial data in very simple terms. And why it can make all the difference.

Rafael Plantier, Tink’s UK & Ireland Country Manager looks at how open banking technology can open the digital doors to financial services for many more people, while helping businesses operate more efficiently.

Find out how you can leverage access to financial data to solve different challenges throughout your customer journey – from the first steps in the onboarding all the way through to a successful sale.

We get down to the basics of account aggregation. Find out more about what it means, and how it can be used to increase transparency for both consumers and businesses.

Tink’s series of local open banking reports lift the lid on the biggest open banking spenders in Europe, looking at who is expecting speedy returns on their investments, where innovation has boomed and whose spend has increased the most.

We’re ecstatic to announce Tink is teaming up with Instantor, a leading European provider of credit decision solutions. Built on open banking technology, Instantor’s products and services strengthen our market position across Europe.

PFM is great. But what is it exactly? We get down to the basics and explain the term, what it means, and what it has to offer for consumers and businesses alike.

The barriers of operating across borders are coming down. Open banking is allowing any company, big or small, to take the same model and apply it to any country - slashing time-to-market, and creating vast opportunities for everyone.

When people invest money in mutual funds or pension accounts, the broker receives up to 50% in commission through the fund fee. Alpcot doesn’t think this is fair – and they’re leveraging open banking to change that.

Sopra Banking Software and Tink have joined forces to bring open banking solutions – account aggregation, data enrichment, payment initiation, and personal finance management technology – to a platform serving 1,500 financial institutions worldwide.

The EBA has resolved some of the biggest questions in relation to PSD2 APIs, after documenting its opinion on the practices of banks and the obstacles caused. This is Tink’s summary of the most significant implications.

The financial services industry is on the verge of a monumental shift towards data-driven solutions. By going beyond compliance businesses can unlock new market opportunities and improve customer experiences at lower costs.

From bus driver to billionaire, Opti delivers the same market-leading investment opportunities for everyone. By using Tink’s technology to help deliver a slick user experience, Opti is keeping complexity firmly in the background.

PayPal is making a second strategic investment in Tink, and together, their commercial agreement is extending across all countries in the EEA to continue the expansion of open banking technology.

Find out how fintech company Nordigen is leveraging financial data to help banks and lenders improve the speed and accuracy of their credit decisions.

Open banking has taken the financial services industry by storm, with executives taking advantage of a new industry paradigm. But how is open banking investment shaping up across the continent? Here’s a spoiler - it’s massive, and growing.

Find out how Tradera, the leading online commerce marketplace in Sweden, is using Tink’s account verification solution to provide an even simpler and more user-friendly onboarding and payout experience.

We ventured once again into the minds of European bankers and found that financial institutions are making significant investments towards their open banking initiatives. But what’s driving them? Or what’s standing in the way?

Nordea is partnering with Tink to transform their mobile banking app, and improve how their customers manage their money using open banking technology.

It’s time for the industry to catch up with the first movers of open banking, but the end goal is not to meet regulation. It’s about increasing sales and productivity, and reducing risk - to get a return on your open banking investment.

Our new Regional Director for DACH has his sights set on making the financial actors in the region the stars of the open banking show - by helping them create the slick digital experiences people are beginning to expect.

Datia’s mission is to connect people with investment opportunities that are good for the world, and just a few days after launch, hundreds of users are already realising they had little idea what their money is really supporting.

The first report based on our survey of 290 senior executives and decision makers in the financial industry across Europe is out. Find out what the results reveal about how bankers are tackling the open banking opportunity.

Actionable insights makes it possible for financial institutions to deliver hyper relevant and targeted digital advice. But how does it actually work? We dig into the technology that makes it all possible.

Find out how Swedish company Kivra is providing a more user-friendly and friction-free payment solution – to simplify things for their customers, and their business.

Open banking is changing the way people interact with their finances, as more providers launch value added services that have a real impact on people’s lives. But to get people to adopt new services – especially when they require sharing personal data – you need a solid foundation of trust. Here’s why trust matters, and the four pillars that are needed to keep it in place.

Find out how you can engage more customers, build trust, boost sales and increase share of wallet by providing actionable insights in your PFM experience.

Goloyal is leveraging open banking technology and financial data to give unique consumer insights for retail, shopping centres and loyalty programs.

Financial institutions across Europe are under pressure to deliver increasingly sophisticated services that simplify how people manage their money. Actionable insights can help make this a reality by enabling you to give customers a truly personal experience, which drives engagement, increases trust and boosts sales - all while helping people be smarter with their money. This is how it works.

We’re beyond excited to announce that Tink is joining forces with Eurobits Technologies. The acquisition of Eurobits is a big step for us in our continued expansion across Europe, and a complement to our organic growth strategy to enhance our platform, increase connectivity and expand our product offering.

In digital banking, personal finance management (PFM) is a key contributor to customer engagement. If you can be the go-to place for customers to manage their finances, that can easily turn into increased loyalty – and sales. With Tink’s PFM SDKs, making PFM happen doesn’t need to be a massive undertaking. You can get up in running in a few hours, saving developer time and getting to market quicker.

How do you build the future of financial services? We had a chat with Tinkers Jon Nilsson and Henry Kupty from the data products team to learn more about how they work to transform financial data into delightful user experiences. This is what they are doing to create value for leading brands and their millions of customers through personal finance management (PFM).

In part one and two of this series, we looked at the 'what' and the 'why' of enhanced credit scoring, discussing the benefits to consumers and businesses. In this third and final piece we dive into the ‘how’ – showcasing the tech behind the solution.

Spanish digital bank EVO is obsessed with making life easier for their customers. A big part of that mission is creating a first-class mobile experience, and so they are always looking out for new tech and developing new features to bring more convenience to the EVO banking app. One of their most recent additions is a multi-banking feature built on top of Tink’s tech.

Last week BNP Paribas Fortis enabled their app users holding accounts at other banks to get a full financial overview in the Easy Banking App. This means that users can now view their account balance and real-time transactions from Belfius, ING and KBC without having to jump between different interfaces ultimately making their lives easier.

Bank and fintech partnerships are booming as the shift in the financial industry is taking everyone in the same direction. But just like with any other relationship, a happily ever after is not always a given. We’ve previously shared tips from our own experience in building successful partnerships, but we were curious to get the bankers’ perspective. So we reached out to our partners at CGD for their take on it.

In the first part of this series, we’ve gone through the 'what is' of our enhanced credit scoring solution. In this second article, we’ll dive into the ‘why’ – the concrete benefits it brings, and how it can positively affect consumers’ lives.

This is the fourth piece in our ‘Build with Tink’ series, where we go through the Tink platform. Now we’ll put the spotlight on Tink Link, a tool that simplifies end-user authentication so you can easily and safely connect to over 2,500 European banks.

Instead of focusing on the September deadline, the real test will be how you innovate to meet consumer demands in an era of increasingly personalised experiences.

BNP Paribas, the world’s eighth-largest bank, has selected Tink to be its preferred European partner for data aggregation and enrichment, payment initiation and personal finance management (PFM) technology – bringing our banking infrastructure and data services to the bank that serves 18 million customers in the region.   

Svalna launched with one goal: to help consumers slash their carbon footprint. Using financial data, the app helps users understand the environmental impact of their day-to-day purchases – and make simple changes that make a big difference to the planet. 

Zmarta makes it quick and simple for people to get the best mortgage rate in Sweden. Using our single API to collect account data, Zmarta can understand people’s financials in an instant – and give them a better deal.

Data is becoming increasingly central to innovation, but it can be challenging to know how to leverage it successfully. What strategies can help you gain an edge? We heard out a data guru’s 3 tips on using data to create value – while putting the customer first.

Ebbel is shaking up the credit card market with a matchmaking service that couples customers with the right card for their needs - and it’s proving to be more than just sweet talk. On average its users are already saving 3,400 SEK (about €320) a year. This is how.

Leda Glyptis is a leading voice in banking from both the startup and the incumbent side. Way back at Money2020 in Amsterdam, we sat down with her to talk about this opportunity that is open banking and the big opportunities that it presents.

This is the third piece in our ‘Build with Tink’ series, where we are laying out you all you need to know to start building with Tink's platform. Here we’ll go into how you can build and launch a service using the Tink Console.

At the beginning of 2019, we set our sights on making the most of the opportunity that open banking is offering – a huge industry shift that is bringing about a new generation of financial services to market. Before we wrap up another year, we’re looking back at our own journey in 2019 and how it reflects this industry-wide transformation.

Beatriz Gimenez has made a career out of digital disruption, and she’s now joined Tink’s expansion journey – heading up our new Madrid office. We interviewed her to get to know more about her unique experience, the Spanish market, her thoughts on the future of banking – and why she decided to bet on Tink.

This is the second piece in our ‘Build with Tink’ series, where we’ll tell you all you need to know to start using Tink's platform. Here we describe the Tink Console – the admin tool that enables you to use our technology to test, build and launch data-driven services.

The way our enhanced credit scoring solution works is quite simple: Tink gives you access to real-time financial data, as well as insights into spending behaviours so you can feed your credit scoring models. This results in a quick, reliable credit or risk assessment – so customers can get a better experience, and businesses can minimise risks.

Rafael Plantier, our new UK & Ireland Country Manager, arrives at Tink with a motto: open banking is good only once people get to enjoy the fruits of their data. To make this a reality, our London-based recruit wants to seize the open banking opportunity — and give innovators in the UK the right tools for building data-driven services.

ABN AMRO and Tink joined forces to make the bank’s popular personal finance management (PFM) app – Grip – more open and relevant. Thanks to the new PSD2 APIs, users can add accounts from other banks inside the app – and Grip can reach more customers.

Over a couple of intense days, we rubbed shoulders with Europe’s tech establishment at the Slush tech conference in Helsinki. We met other innovators, took on the stage for fireside chats – and kept our ears on the ground to hear what was abuzz in the fintech circles, and what other industry experts had to say. Here are our key takeaways. 

Lang voor de inwerkingtreding van de PSD2-richtlijnen hebben we op Europees niveau gepleit voor veranderingen, omdat we een toekomst zien waarin de financiële dienstensector een grote stap voorwaarts zal zetten.

Quick and seamless onboarding is a way to gain an edge in today’s cutthroat fintech landscape. After using autofill, our partners Avanza and Qliro managed to reduce friction and boost conversion rates – in vastly different onboarding scenarios. The solution can also be applied beyond financial services, whenever filling in bank account or ID information can help customers save time.

With the September PDS2 deadline now visible in our rearview mirror, what is the status of the bank APIs in Europe two months later? Well, we still face big challenges as an industry to make sure the technical environments improve. But what we’ve seen is an encouraging shift in terms of collaboration and cooperation with some of Europe’s biggest banks. 

This is the first piece in our series, where we’ll tell you all you need to know to start using Tink’s platform. We’ll describe our full toolkit, share success stories, and show you how to quickly get started – so you can use financial data to build world-changing services too. 

A key to simple onboarding is removing any unnecessary friction in your user journey. Tink can help do that by automatically filling in forms for customers, so they can skip the manual work and get started more quickly. Our solution uses account aggregation to retrieve the relevant data straight from their banks – and it can be easily implemented in a matter of minutes.

Customers’ first steps inside your service are critical. Asking them to fill in lengthy online applications in order to get started can lead many of them to abandon your offering – and perhaps go explore a competitor’s. Tink’s autofill solves this by fetching the information straight from the customers’ bank accounts and automatically filling it in, making for a more seamless experience – and higher conversion rates.

Financial data has until recently been an untapped powerhouse of insight into a customer’s mind and heart. But now this data is in the hands of consumers instead of being locked away in their banks’ vaults – opening up space for innovation and enabling a range of new ideas that can make a big impact in people’s lives.

Since before PSD2 became law, we have been working at a European level to advocate for the changes that are now becoming core to the open banking movement. And it’s because we see a future in which the banking and financial services industry takes a major leap into the future. Here’s the role we’ve played – and why it matters.

After reaching a commercial agreement, the bank and fintech are feeling pretty comfortable together. A commitment has been made and everyone’s clear about where the relationship is headed. The next step – making the collaboration fruitful – is not always straightforward. Here are five tips we’ve refined for when it’s time to get a product to market.

When looking at the fast-growing lending market in Sweden, Moank could see an opportunity to give more customers a fairer lending decision by mixing industry-leading tech with a personal touch. How are they doing this? By partnering with Tink to build a more inclusive credit scoring process, and encouraging employers to get involved.

Our blossoming bank and fintech relationship has reached the ‘let’s make it official’ phase. But even though we both want to end up in the same place, charting a path there can be complicated. First, we have to make sure we can get past our fundamental differences to see a happy future together – preferably in the form of a commercial agreement.

Portugal’s biggest bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), wanted to transform how it interacted with its customers. So it asked Tink to help build a first-class mobile experience that would also leverage open banking tech. Six months later, CGD launched a brand-new PFM app to give millions of consumers unprecedented insight into their economy.

Forming a bank and fintech partnership is a lot like dating. You meet, hit it off and decide you want to be together. But first you have to manage the challenges of bridging two totally different worlds. This is the full story of how we figured out that banks and fintechs can see the future in the same way (cue: heart emoji).

The financial industry has been standing at the precipice of this major shift. Some banks have taken the leap – innovative thinkers and leaders embracing the data revolution and using it to deliver amazing services. For those who’ve waited, now is your time – to take a leap, redefine how consumers manage their money and seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change banking for the better.

The results from Tink’s new UK survey report show that British bankers have a split opinion on the open banking movement, and unlike most other bankers across Europe, dealing with the new regulations is not a major concern for them. For respondents in the UK, ‘other incumbent banks’ came up as the single biggest threat brought by the open access to data.

Tink’s new report finds that financial executives in Germany are more likely to perceive the open banking movement as a threat rather than an opportunity, and indicates that they are not looking to explore new opportunities beyond the scope of PSD2 regulations for now. But they still understand the industry is in transformation (just like the German market), and are looking to partner with fintechs to tackle the journey ahead.

From the demise of cash and physical bank branches, to the rise of digital banks and automation, technology is irreversibly changing the way we manage our money – and what we expect from the services that do. 

To level the playing field between small savers and investment professionals, Swedish fintech Njorda has created an app that lowers the knowledge threshold needed to make smart investments – helping users compare risk, reduce fees and maximise their returns.

When payment provider Mash wanted to upgrade its onboarding process and use data to give customers a better deal, they enlisted the help of account aggregation.

Tink speaks to independent blogger and author Chris Skinner, about his positive view on the future of banking and what banks need to do - to change their business model and truly digitalise.

Europe has so far been largely protected from the big tech march into financial services. Penetrating each market has been a challenge due to differences in language, tech adoption and regulations. But open banking is unifying the financial landscape across the continent, making it easier for tech giants to get a foot in. Now the big questions are: what will happen when they do? And what do we need to do to safeguard customer loyalty?

In our final analysis of PDS2 APIs, we’ve found that none are compliant with the PSD2 requirements and obligations – the same result we reported from our last evaluation in June. And with less than a month before the final deadline, it is the millions of banking customers across Europe who will suffer the consequences.

By launching personal finance app Grip, ABN AMRO addressed two of their customers’ most pressing requests: understanding where their money went, and getting the tools to better manage their spending.

In our first UK partnership, we’re helping NatWest use open banking tech to transform its mobile banking app, and improve how customers manage their money.

It has felt in recent months as if the entire industry is mobilised to meet next month’s final PSD2 deadline. But forgotten in all the talk of SCA requirements, fallbacks and EBA clarifications is the monumental human effort that is being made deep in the offices of third parties and banks to create and align on an entirely new way of working.

With the launch of The Mortgage Match, SBAB has overcome a major hurdle: making it easy for people to make comparisons in the most complex financial product of their life.

Ultimately, everyone involved in this march to September – banks and third parties alike – is in the business of meeting the needs of customers. And yet, they could be forgotten if the majority of banks’ PSD2 APIs continue to offer just one authentication flow – the dreaded web redirect. It’s a method that kills innovation, destroys the customer experience, and could threaten the success of this open banking movement in which we’ve all invested so heavily.

In our recent open banking report – Inside the minds of Europe’s bankers – we quizzed nearly 270 financial executives across Europe, and sat down with some of the leading minds in the field to get to the bottom of the biggest challenges, threats and opportunities of open banking.

We raised the alarm bells earlier this month that the banks’ production APIs are far from ready – a reality that could threaten the services that millions of consumers enjoy. If they remain poor, then the success of PSD2 could hinge on a safety net that’s built into the regulation. But with no clarity around what this safety net should look like or how it will be applied, there is a real risk it won’t provide the security it was intended to.

We’ve seen our fair share of banking partners succeed in their efforts to build digital services that customers love, partner with fintechs to get the right tech, and becoming data-driven organisations. Taking all of those lessons, we’ve distilled them down into the three things you can do as a banker that will best equip you for the journey ahead.

A Tink analysis finds that none of the tested bank APIs released by the penultimate 14th June deadline meet the quality requirements laid out by PSD2 regulators – potentially creating a “cliff edge” scenario in September that compromises the financial services for millions of consumers.

The open banking movement is picking up steam – and we’re seeing an uptick in companies launching “open banking platforms”. But without defining what this really means, it’s impossible to make a like-for-like comparison. So we’re stripping away the term – and giving you a checklist with the criteria that really matters when evaluating a tech partner.

When retail giant ICA wanted to improve the functionality of its life-management app ICA Spara, it partnered with Tink to offer customers access to their data from 50% more banks and cards – and their full financial overview in one place. 

Over three days in early June, the best and brightest decision makers in the industry met at Money20/20 to discuss the biggest transformation in decades. We had substantive conversations about the future of open banking in the pink booth – and took the stage to share our vision.

This is the final piece in a three-part series: Inside the minds of Europe’s bankers. We conducted an open banking survey, querying nearly 270 European financial executives on how they see the movement, the regulations and the future. This is the last of the three major conclusions we’ve made after analysing the data.

Today is the deadline for all banks to have their production APIs ready, and the first day for all third parties to officially start integrating with them. But having spent the last three months rigorously testing more than 100 bank APIs in their sandbox environments, we can conclude this: the APIs available up to now are far from ready, lacking the quality and maturity they need – offering a sobering preview of the condition of the production APIs due out today.

This is the second piece in a three-part series: Inside the minds of Europe’s bankers. We conducted an open banking survey, querying nearly 270 European financial executives on how they see the movement, the regulations and the future. This is the second of the three major conclusions we’ve made after analysing the data.

This is the first piece in a three-part series: Inside the minds of Europe’s bankers. We conducted a survey on the subject of open banking, querying nearly 270 European financial executives on how they see the movement, the regulations and the future. This is the first of the three major conclusions we’ve made after analysing the data.

This is the second piece in our ongoing series called Tink Thinks: Inside the EBA, where we explain and comment on the business of the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) PSD2 API Working group, which is helping to ease the implementation process ahead of the September deadline.

By Tomas Prochazka and Ralf Ohlhausen

In the last year, we’ve learned the power of “show, not tell”. We built 50 prototypes to show 50 prospective customers what they could do with our tech – and we learned a few things along the way. The biggest lesson? How the right demo can distill a three-hour sales meeting into just 15 minutes.

SDC and Tink have joined forces to give 120 Nordic banks access to account aggregation and payment initiation services, allowing its banks to make money management smarter and easier for 2.5 million customers.

Meet Tink’s new senior adviser and investor: Christian Clausen. He’s a veteran of the old guard of banking – a former CEO of Nordea and chairman of the European Banking Federation. He’s sharing his expertise and unique insight gained from years working with Europe’s biggest banks. And we’ve joined forces to help bankers seize the immense opportunity up for grabs as the industry shifts – and open the digital doors to their customers.

As other industries fuel a change in customer expectations, the banking biz has some catching up to do. And the only way to win in this new era of customer engagement – where their data is up for grabs – is to focus, relentlessly, on the people behind the accounts.

The open banking movement is forcing the industry to innovate on an unprecedented scale. The smart banks are meeting this challenge by rethinking their singular focus on products – and behaving more like software companies to attract and hold onto their customers.

With a high application drop-off rate, Swedish savings and investment bank Avanza turned to our aggregation technology, to automate their onboarding process and help customers set up a new account in minutes, not weeks.

Now that banks can start to look beyond the huge task of being regulation ready, everyone’s attention is turning to what’s next. Which is how to get the most out of the open banking opportunity. But if banks want to stay ahead of the emerging competition, the time to act is now.

One of the two biggest PSD2 deadlines just whizzed by on 14 March without much fanfare – and more importantly – without the compliance of 41% of the European banks we surveyed in 10 markets. Many will point fingers at those who failed to comply. But what it really highlights is that despite deep pockets and plenty of resources, the demands that PSD2 places on banks are monumental.

This is the first piece in our ongoing series called Tink Thinks, where we explain and comment on the business of the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) PSD2 API working group, which is helping to ease the implementation process ahead of the September deadline.

Automated financial services bringing about the demise of banks is being talked about as if it’s a done deal.

Winning the customer of the future will require a level of personalisation and insight that doesn’t currently exist in banking. But it’s coming – and we’re building the platform that will deliver it. Our PFM solutions use machine learning to offer tailored, actionable advice that guides customers to the financial future they envision – and creates long-term relationships.

We recently wrote about the high abandonment rates that banks are battling during the onboarding process – and how to kill the friction so that more users complete the process. But improving onboarding doesn’t necessarily mean your user retention will be high. We’re sharing the top three factors that will help you attract users – and keep them coming back.

Australia is known for many things, including its natural wonders, and (potentially daunting) wildlife. In the fintech world, it will also soon be known for its own version of open banking. One that is inspired by Europe, but with an Aussie twist.

When it comes to open banking, behavioural finance expert Galina Andreeva is a staunch supporter. But she cautions that the opportunities it presents come with their own risks – and to offer the best service, banks need to understand their customers better than ever before.

Customers can be demanding folks. The speed and seamlessness of technology today has conditioned us all to expect the same experience in every interaction – whether we’re booking a hotel, buying paper towels on Amazon or filling in a banking application. The first two instances have adapted well to the shifting expectations – the latter, not so much.

Leda Glyptis can empathise with the banks. She’s a recovering banker herself. At a time when the incumbents are choosing to embrace this era of open banking – albeit slowly – the chief of staff at challenger consultancy 11:FS lays out the three choices they can make in order to make money and move their business forward.

A year of sprinting and scaling has put 2018 in the books as Tink’s best year yet. We’re sharing our journey – proud of what we’ve achieved in three major areas, and excited for even bigger growth in 2019.

We sat down with payments and PSD2 expert from the Bank of Ireland, Julie Connor, to discuss the opportunities of open banking and the strengths of standardisation.

The financial services industry in Europe is at a crossroad. Regulators have decided to open the floodgates to competition by introducing the concept of open banking. Although Europe is progressive when it comes to regulations, implementation can be complex. Now the world is watching to see how new regulations affect the financial industry in Europe.

Much like Tink, the trustee for the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) has big visions for the future of data-driven banking. He says it’s only a matter of time until the full scope of customer data is available for fintechs to use to build innovative new products.

Hugo Bongers, head of ABN AMRO's Digital Impact Fund, says he is excited by the plethora of new companies working on big ideas. But in a chat with us at the Money20/20 conference in June, he said that ultimately people want one central place or platform where all services will be combined.

More banks are building personal finance management (PFM) features into their mobile banking solutions – spend monitoring, budgeting tools and charts that detail spending in different categories.

From blue-chip banks to fintech unicorns, our customers are using Tink services to better respond to this era of open banking – in which the power is shifting from banks to consumers, and giving consumers the power to choose.

Open banking was designed to open the retail banking market by giving everyone access to the data they needed to deliver banking services. Initially viewed as a massive boon for fintechs, and a worrying threat for banks, the mindset of the latter is shifting.

Every financial transaction generates data, which means that every business in the financial services sector has a hugely valuable resource right under their nose. Until recently, very few businesses and banks were actually able to make use of this data. Even those who held the right expertise were often held back by the cumbersome legacy systems which remain prevalent in the banking sector. Now, things are changing.

We’re big fans of open APIs – they bring much-needed transparency to the banking industry and are a catalyst for better services. And while PSD2 will usher in an era of open APIs, it does so in a whisper – offering only payment data and thus an incomplete picture of a customer’s full financial life. The future is open APIs that make all data available – and create a foundation for anyone to build services that result in better financial choices for us all.

Tink conversed, connected and listened at this year’s Amsterdam conference. And here’s what we learned about the major leaps the banking industry is taking in this era of open banking.

With the introduction of PSD2 (the second Payment Services Directive), we are now entering a new era of open banking. At the customer’s request, EU member states will be forced to open up their customer data and payments infrastructure to third-party providers.

Until now, banks have occupied a privileged space. They have operated in a market that has handed them a monopoly over their customers’ data and discouraged competition and innovation. This is about to change as we are entering the era of open banking.

Instead of resisting, banks should embrace the opportunity to embrace the spirit of PSD2. First mover advantage is huge.