Intense reservations regarding open banking

Carried out with 3 thousand 500 participants in 12 countries including Turkey, Payment and Open Banking Survey 2020 discusses the changes in the payment behavior of consumers. Accordingly, reservations about open banking services are still intense in Europe. European and Turkish consumers state that they could accept sharing their bank information if it is related to discounts, free banking products or benefits such as automatic tax return. Only 20% of participants stated that they might want to share their financial information with banks or third-party service providers, 29% of the consumers are willing to share their data in Turkey.

According to the research results, European consumers still rely on traditional banks and card issuers to share personal data. Payment service providers (9%) and retailers (8%), on the other hand, seem to maintain the confidence compared to Neo banks and Fintech companies. It is observed that the use of cash has decreased among the payment methods of European consumers and they have shifted their preferences to payment methods such as bank cards, mobile wallets and in-app payments. In Turkey, cash (46%) is still preferred payment method in the shopping and service payments. However, the increasing interest in debit / credit cards and mobile payment methods is also in line with the European average. The pandemic was one of the factors that accelerated the decline in cash usage among consumers and one out of every two people participating in the study stated that they will not return to their old payment habits after the pandemic. Considering the impact of the pandemic of in-store payment behavior, 43% of consumers in Turkey stated that they more frequently use physical cards, 21% cash and 11% smart phones, remaining above the European average. Strategy & Turkey Financial Services Director Ozan Cığızoğlu evaluated the study results as:

“With the enactment of PSD2 (Payment Services Directive), many new payment options and digital financial services were expected to be offered in Europe. However, according to study results, European and Turkish consumers have reservations about open banking. Data sharing outside of banking shows that broader access is possible, but to convince consumers with more appropriate “usage scenarios”, banks need to act immediately to take advantage of the most reliable player position. In terms of regulations in Turkey, we believe that through the enactment of secondary legislations and the spread of organizations with an open banking operations, the awareness will increase and the environment of trust will be provided for data sharing.”