SEB Pank will begin offering the opportunity to manage other accounts in other banks within SEB’s Internet Bank

According to the European Union’s Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the Payment Institutions and E-money Institutions Act, all banks are required to provide licensed third-party individuals access to customer account information and allow them to make payments if the client has granted consent to do so.  As of 14 June, SEB will be offering a technical solution allowing for the above.

We are calling on fintech companies to test this solution and bring the first solutions to market.

This new opportunity means, among other things, that, in the future, a client will be able to manage their accounts in different banks from a single location – SEB’s Internet Bank – and will facilitate the appearance of a host of new financial services on the market.

Under the Directive, licensed companies that have access to the customer data held by banks will be able to offer new financial services using the account information service and payment initiation service offered by the bank. It is important that the customer data held by banks remains fully protected and continues to be available to third parties with the consent of the client only.

The entry into force of the Directive promotes the creation of new financial services, thereby increasing open competition and the client’s freedom of choice on the financial services market.

Among other things, the new solution means that in the future a client will be able to manage their accounts at different banks from a single location – SEB’s Internet Bank – if they so wish.

‘The most important benefits for our customers will be the ability to access their bank account information much faster and the simplification of payment processes. For example, clients who have bank accounts at different banks will no longer have to use several different Internet Banks to access them. In the future, the client will have a complete overview of their accounts available from a single location, in one Internet Bank. In addition, it will no longer be necessary to log in separately to the Internet Bank when paying for a product or service online, meaning that the client will be able to pay immediately and without leaving the e-shop,’ explained Ragnar Toomla, Head of Digital Strategy in the Baltic Division at SEB.

At the same time, SEB will not limit itself purely to mandatory requirements arising from PSD2 when offering the open banking platform to third party service providers, but has instead set the objective of creating long-term partnership relations with fintech companies, in order to offer its clients innovative financial services.

‘Following the trends in the financial world and customer expectations, SEB Pank is looking for broader cooperation opportunities extending beyond the services set out in the PSD2. Service providers were previously able to test different ideas and services in a specially designed developer portal – www.seb.ee/open-banking and also with limited functionality in real banking systems – using machine interfaces. Now, however, it is possible to use the interfaces in full in real banking systems. We are convinced that the Open Banking approach will change the financial world, and the goal of SEB Pank is to be among the first to make these changes and to inspire other companies to make greater use of the available innovations,” added Toomla