Open banking is a great novelty for banks, as well as fintech companies in Georgia. According to Giorgi Kintsurashvili, Head of Digital Banking Ecosystem Unit at Bank of Georgia, initially customers will benefit from the advantages of open banking.
Open Banking involves sharing and accessing information from different banks. This will be a unique experience for consumers in Georgia, thanks to which it will be possible to view the accounts of different financial institutions from one mobile bank, and then manage them.
"This change for banks primarily includes the Multi Banking Experience, with the help of which the client will see the products of different banks in one application and, eventually, the process will be simplified for him. This, in turn, is beneficial for banks as well, consumers will be more involved in the processes. At first, they will be able to see only the information, and in the next stages they will be able to control the accounts or loans,” said Giorgi Kintsurashvili.
According to him, banks will better adapt to the needs of customers in the conditions of open banking and will be able to offer them the optimal option.
"Banks will be even more motivated to offer better terms to the client compared to the competitor. In addition, more information will be available for evaluation and analysis. Previously, if the customer has to prove the income through various documents, there will be no need for it and the process will be simplified. Although this is a challenge for financial institutions as well, in Open Banking conditions, those who have better digital channels and conditions will win. In the end, consumers will get less bureaucracy and banks will get better analytics,” explains Head of Digital Banking Ecosystem Unit at Bank of Georgia.
He also emphasizes that open banking is an ideal opportunity for small banks to attract more customers and make their services more popular.
Gega Tsurtsumia, co-founder of Payze says that the main advantage of open banking is to access such information, which is available for banks now.
"I think the main dignity of Open Banking is to have access to information that, in fact, no one but banks have today. I think it will be necessary to have a high level of information security, which will probably involve other organizations besides banks and FinTech, "- said the co-founder of Payze.
According to him, activating startups on the new wing will ultimately be beneficial for all parties.
"When companies have access to large amounts of data, they will be able to take over some of the bank's functionality and there is a chance, in some cases, to do it even better: mobile banking, personal finance management, transfers, which can be done with good UX design or additional functionality. In the end, it will be beneficial for the bank, FinTechs and consumers as well,” said Gega Tsurtsumia.
As the co-founder of Payze says, the experience of Open Banking will give many startups the opportunity to enter the sector and we will see the benefits more clearly after the launch of open banking.
"Until you don’t have access to this type of information, you do not understand how all this can benefit you. When Payze started researching the issue, we discovered a lot of potential features that no one even thought of. I'm sure that after Open Banking, there will be tools that even the users themselves could not imagine. Numerous startups of this type already exist in developed countries, where Open Banking has been introduced for years. When it comes to security, obviously FinTechs will have to bring in so-called Best Practices and various tools to protect their users as much as possible. In my opinion, with the help of technology, startups will even be able to take security to a new level and thus protect themselves and their customers," he said.
