One in 3 bank customers in Singapore already trialed open banking platforms

Another 35% are considering the shift in 2019.

A third of commercial bank customers in Singapore admitted to trying open banking platforms in 2018 whilst 35% eye to do so in 2019, a study by global management firm Accenture found.

Seven in 10 of such large corporate clients who are commercial bank customers hope that they could partner such open banking initiatives with their banks, the report added.

According to the study, 30% of Singapore executives think that open banking could help them gain access to convenient and innovative banking services. They also believe that open banking could aid to simplify and reduce costs for bank connectivity (25%), and can be a platform to help them reach more clients and partners (23%).

“The opportunities for banks in Singapore are clear and they should leverage the strong trust amongst corporate clients to continue innovating and offer cutting-edge open banking solutions that are relevant and important to SMEs and large businesses alike,” Divyesh Vithlani, a managing director at Accenture and ASEAN financial services lead commented.

Also read: Malaysia takes step forward to realise open banking ambitions

“Banks here have recognized early on the benefits of offering open APIs and other open banking solutions, but they shouldn’t rest on their laurels because fintechs and other digital rivals are also actively looking for ways to expand into the market,” Vithlani added.

Open banking has become a luring idea in Asia Pacific as 90% of big banks in the region expressed their plans to provide open banking services for their commercial clients. The study also found that 50% of said banks are positive that open banking will buoy them towards revenue growths of up to 10%, whilst 33% are more hopeful as they expect open banking to help them get their revenues boosted by up to 20%.

APAC players have been keen on open banking as 80% of large banks in the region have already invested in initiatives for their commercial customers or at least have plans to push it by 2019. Moreover, the study revealed that 39% of them eye to invest more than $20m for open banking initiatives such as commercial platforms, third-party services as well as to explore some other uses of open banking.