How Priviti is demystifying open banking and putting consent back in the spotlight.

Open banking will shake up the entire financial services industry by allowing consumers to share their transaction history to obtain better deals from 1 February 2020.

Dermot McCann, Head of Asia Pacific of #fintech and #regtech startup Priviti, shares how they are helping shape the global standard for consent management through their innovative technology.

Priviti is currently working to apply consent management to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and open banking solutions across Europe, to open banking and the implementation of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) in Australia.

Priviti won the Westpac Innovation Challenge Chief Product Officers Award

In December 2018, Priviti won the Westpac Innovation Challenge Chief Product Officers Award, validating their team’s vision to unlock the power of data sharing with a scalable solution for consent and data privacy.

Dermot says, “The key to open banking and the successful implementation of the CDR lies in ensuring consumers have choice and control over the use of their data. “

“The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) who is responsible for the Consumer Data Right on behalf of the Australian Treasury, is taking a step in the right direction in ensuring there is a framework for banks to allow consumers to access and safely transfer their banking data to trusted parties.”

Speaking about the aftermath of the Royal Banking Commission, which has so far uncovered wide-spread malpractice in top-tier banks, Dermot says, “Organisations have been taking a very traditional approach to managing consumers’ data and haven’t in all cases acted honourably.”

“With so many high-profile breaches of trust both here in Australia and globally, there is a higher level of expectations in ensuring those whom we trust with our personal data are obtaining explicit consent when data sharing. This is the problem that we are solving with Priviti.”

Creating solutions to help banks get open banking right

At Priviti, Dermot explains the main goal is to empower consumers to have control over their data.

He says, “Essentially, our technology allows the customer to have a secret which they can choose whom and when to reveal that secret. We’ve invented and patented a new technology which allows any entity to secure consumer consent and control data sharing with precision.”

For example, today if you want to shop around for a new mortgage, you cannot share your mortgage details with another lender simply and quickly.

Or, if you want to use Personal Finance Management (PFM) software to manage your finances, the only way you can do this now is by entering your confidential credentials into a 3rd party app which allows screen-scraping of your bank statements and is in fact a breach of your banking contract.

Instead, Priviti takes the complexity out of the banking environment by allowing the consumer to choose whom they want to share their data with and ensuring that explicit consent has been provided.

Dermot explains, “Our patented APIs and algorithms integrate seamlessly into an organisation’s existing architecture and workflows, to ensure that the customer’s secret (or shared code) can only be used for the explicit purpose for which the consumer has consented. “

“We add to that a full audit trail and the ability to revoke that consent seamlessly. Importantly, Priviti never sees, stores or monetises personally identifiable information. “

Dermot says that the idea behind Priviti came from Priviti’s Co-Founder and Chairman, Gerry Barry, a successful Irish entrepreneur.

“In the late 80’s Gerry invented the dynamic currency conversion mechanism which today allows people to pay in their preferred currency at the point of sale anywhere in the world. Today, industry veterans have joined forces with the next generation to solve a significant problem facing the digital age: managing consent for data sharing.”

Priviti is currently based in five international locations including Galway, Dublin, London, Singapore and, most recently, Sydney at Stone & Chalk.

“The reason we’re here at Stone & Chalk is because the financial community and ecosystem is here,” Dermot explains.

“It’s about thinking how fintechs and banks can collaborate to improve customer experience, as well as provide enhanced choice and innovation. Together we can help build customer trust in financial services and grow the economy.”

“It’s really important that Australia gets the implementation of open banking and CDR right. And it’s vital that we do it with the right intent, by putting the consumer at the forefront of our thinking and implementation.”

With #openbanking on the horizon for Australia, Priviti’s technology will help in ensuring customers are given control over their personal data.

If you’d like to find out more about Priviti’s solution for #consent management, get in touch.

If you are interested in participating in our Open Banking program, please get in touch with Mary Ramsay.