heimonen emma

Swedbank has opened its doors to work with fintechs and developers by launching a new open banking platform.

The platform will make the most of developments required under the revised EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which must be applied in national legislation from January 2018 and aims to encourage new players to enter the payment market.

One of the impacts of PSD2 is that all banks must provide third parties with account access and transaction data if the customer wishes.

Swedbank’s open banking platform will provide third parties safe and secure access and, as a first-step, it has created a ‘sandbox’ environment where partners can test their new ideas with the bank.

Emma Heimonen, head of digital innovation at Swedbank, said: “By launching this first beta version of Open Banking, we take the next step in our long history of innovation at Swedbank.

“Innovative capability and co-operation capacity combined with high delivery rates are crucial factors for us to succeed in the digital paradigm shift.

“Our ambition is to select good ideas that come from all the testing and co-innovation that goes on.

“This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs that want to create fantastic customer value.”

Swedbank has 7.4 million private customers and more than 600,000 corporate customers. It is a full service bank with four home markets, in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and international branches worldwide.

Fintech companies and third-parties can obtain more detailed information about digital partnerships with Swedbank at www.swedbank.com/openbanking.