Baku, Azerbaijan, May 22
By Aysham Rustamova – Trend:
The widespread implementation of open banking service in Azerbaijan will help to keep pace with current trends in this sphere, Masuma Talibova, analyst at the Azerbaijani Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications, told Trend.
“The transition of banks from traditional service to open service will allow rendering competitive services and, in general, will lead to a revival in the Azerbaijani banking sector,” she added.
Talibova stressed that open banking service envisages the access for third parties to the information bases of the bank and thereby the creation of opportunities for analyzing information and conducting more transparent activity.
"Banks open their information bases to third parties (for example, to the companies engaged in the development of financial technologies,” she said. “Those familiar with the requirements and needs of customers may offer innovative solutions. In the world, the development of this sector has become an important factor in terms of the clients’ preferences and the effectiveness of the new management structure."
“The open banking service is rendered upon “Payment Services Directive” (PSD2) adopted in 2013 through the application program interface (API),” Talibova added. “API means the integration of one program into another. While integrating with the companies in the field of financial technologies, the banks can offer their services to their customers or perform other operations through API. PSD2 combines all transfer and payment rules adopted in the EU.”
She stressed that the implementation of open banking service will also be useful in terms of creating a favourable environment for fair competition.
“The experience and deep specialization of banks together with high-tech financial technologies will allow offering more advanced and high-quality services,” Talibova added. “For example, the FinTech Association has already been established in Russia. While cooperating with fintech companies, the banks are developing their activity through this association.”