- Emma, a banking app for millennials, has received FCA approval under the Payment Services Regulations 2017
- Banks including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and Santander, as well as several European banks, have confirmed their attendance at a conference to discuss their progress on Open Banking and PSD2. The RBI EU conference will take place in London on 27-28 March 2018 and will also include sessions on digital transformation and artificial intelligence
- Santander has announced that its UK business customers can now access the Chinese market via China’s biggest retailer, JD.com. The partnership with JD.com provides Santander’s UK customers with access to sell through the retailer’s delivery network. JD.com has more than 266m customers
- Nationwide has been given an extension to prepare for Open Banking. After missing the 13 January deadline, the society will start the system in March 2018
- UBS study has suggested that online banking has overtaken visiting branches for the first time, and that almost 75% of global banks are planning branch closures. The survey polled 24,000 customers in 19 countries, and found that 52% of all consumer transactions are now done online, compared to 33% of transactions two years ago. A separate survey by the bank of 86 global lenders found 73% were likely to shutter more branches, while 83% were planning to reduce in-branch staff numbers
