BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 22. The National Bank of Georgia has approved the rules for connecting open banking, thereby streamlining this area, Trend reports via the Georgian media citing the bank.
According to the bank, the new rules will ensure the protection, trust and reliability of services for all users of open banking.
According to the rules, non-banking institutions will also have access to open banking if the conditions of the National Bank are met.
In this case, the connection will be available for any subject in line with the requirements.
The bank's innovation office expressed readiness to help all stakeholders take advantage of the new opportunity.
Open banking is the provision of access to banking data to third parties, with the consent and authorization of all parties, primarily users.
Open Banking technology is already used in countries such as the
UK, Australia, and EU member states. The sharing of user data
through such channels is mandatory for EU member states under the
updated PSD2 (Payment Services Directive) regulation of payment
services.
The National Bank of Georgia initiated consultations with the
banking sector on the introduction of Open Banking in Georgia,
followed by regular working group meetings in the summer of 2019.
The Open Banking Working Group brings together representatives of
the National Bank of Georgia, the Bankers’ Association of Georgia,
and commercial banks. The Open Banking Committee set up with the
Bankers’ Association is missioned to develop the standards
necessary for the introduction of Open Banking in Georgia and to
further promote the project.
The Open Banking Committee developed the first version of the Open
Banking Implementation Framework in September 2020 with the
involvement of the Bankers’ Association of Georgia, commercial
banks, and the National Bank of Georgia. This framework document
sets out the rules and standards for commercial banks to follow
when initially sharing with each other their customer data, such as
bank account balances and transaction information. The data should
be exchanged online using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
provided there is user consent and will.