# Open Banking: are UK networks fit for purpose? Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2018-03-21 Category: BANKING Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/banking Meta Title: UK Financial Services Leading the Charge in Fintech Innovation Meta Description: Explore the challenges facing financial services companies in navigating the hybrid network landscape of Open Banking, how to maintain visibility and respond Tags: featured Tag URLs: featured (https://financedigest.com/tag/featured) URL: https://financedigest.com/open-banking-are-uk-networks-fit-for-purposehtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/fd210318-1-1736842908336-compressed.jpg) _By **Ian Waters**, Director of Solutions Marketing, ThousandEyes_ ![Ian Waters](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/ianthousandeyes-1736842908287-compressed.jpg) Ian Waters The financial sector is leaps and bounds ahead of many other industries in its adoption of technology and pursuit of innovation. In fact, [research](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/boom-in-fintech-innovations-drives-record-number-of-trade-mark-applications-by-uk-finance-firms-a8011701.html) has found that the recent surge in fintech ventures saw the UK’s financial services firms register a record number of trademarks in the last year. What’s more, the London Mayor’s office has released new data suggesting that this year is set to close with [record-breaking levels of investment](https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-britain-fintech-investment/uk-fintech-investment-set-for-record-breaking-year-in-2017-idUKKBN1CO026) fuelling British fintech companies; far outstripping the capital’s European counterparts. Much of the investment in fintech has of course been in anticipation of the new [Open Banking](https://www.financedigest.com/why-open-banking-is-safe.html "WHY OPEN BANKING IS SAFE?") regulations, which will increase competition and further accelerate the digital transformation of banks by allowing more information to be exchanged across networks. To achieve this, traditionally private and segregated bank networks must be made available to the [Open](https://www.financedigest.com/four-years-of-open-banking-2022-may-be-the-best-year-yet.html "Four years of Open Banking: 2022 may be the best year yet ") Banking eco-system, the newer breed of which are operating on cloud based services. It is inevitable for any organisation to engage outside of an owned [private network](https://www.financedigest.com/the-new-wifi-how-private-5g-networks-could-revolutionise-business.html "The New WiFi? How Private 5G Networks Could Revolutionise Business"). Companies must be connected to third parties today – for access to more agile infrastructure, to offer additional [services via APIs or simply to reach customers](https://www.financedigest.com/transforming-to-customer-centric-service-in-financial-services.html "Transforming to customer centric service in Financial Services") where they prefer to engage. Open Banking simply escalates the dependence on hybrid networks, incorporating the public internet and the cloud. Public APIs allowing third parties access to a company’s data and services – as well as potentially the private customer data they hold which is used to enhance the customer experience – all increase banks’ exposure beyond their own internal, [secure and managed networks](https://www.financedigest.com/new-demands-on-network-security.html "NEW DEMANDS ON NETWORK SECURITY"). With this in mind, what are some of the major considerations that financial [services companies](https://www.financedigest.com/sterilization-services-market-global-leading-companies-analysis-revenue-trends-and-forecasts-2027.html "Sterilization Services Market Global Leading Companies Analysis, Revenue, Trends and Forecasts 2027") must address when operating across both public and private networks? 1. **Visibility across all network infrastructure** – the increased reliance on networked [services means that fintech and finserv firms require more precise and active](https://www.financedigest.com/rebound-in-the-oil-gas-exploration-and-production-activities-to-boost-mobile-servicing-rig-market-fact-mr-report.html "Rebound In the Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Activities to Boost Mobile Servicing Rig Market, Fact.MR Report") network visibility. This is to troubleshoot performance issues and resolve them before they [impact users or the business](https://www.financedigest.com/how-technology-consultants-impact-business-growth.html "How Technology Consultants Impact Business Growth"). Traditionally, monitoring solutions have only looked at owned network infrastructure, but today’s landscape means public networks such as the internet and [cloud provider](https://www.financedigest.com/french-cloud-provider-ovh-lines-up-diesel-generators-to-offset-potential-power-cuts.html "French cloud provider OVH lines up diesel generators to offset potential power cuts") networks are crucial too. 2. [9 Issues in Corporate Finance and Strategies to Overcome Them](https://www.financedigest.com/9-issues-in-corporate-finance-and-strategies-to-overcome-them.html "9 Issues in Corporate Finance and Strategies to Overcome Them")**Rapid response to issues** – creating a financial ecosystem through myriad services connected via APIs can present a significant challenge when performance issues, such as a major outage in one of these services, occur. For most finserv companies today, identifying where the issue lies is approached as a process of elimination. Bringing together20-30 different parties on the phone to identify the source of an outage, for example, adds complexity and time. Time that a customer-facing organisation simply can’t afford. We’ve all seen headlines that showcase the detrimental [impact an outage has on the reputation of a bank](https://www.financedigest.com/the-latest-trends-in-instant-payments-and-how-they-impact-banks.html "The latest trends in instant payments and how they impact banks") when customers can’t access vital services. ThousandEyes has found that by minimising time spent trouble-shooting – using visual analysis tools to quickly and easily locate outages and issues regardless of where they occur – means that rather than focusing on finding problems, teams can focus on [fixing them in minutes instead of hours](https://www.financedigest.com/instagram-fixes-bug-that-triggered-hours-long-outage.html "Instagram fixes bug that triggered hours-long outage"), or even days. 3. **Building in rapid scalability and agility of networked services** – all parts of the network must be able to [meet demand](https://www.financedigest.com/how-can-businesses-digitalise-supply-chains-to-meet-demand.html "How can businesses digitalise supply chains to meet demand?"), and this includes third-party services. Cloud-based providers can give finserv companies the ability to increase efficiency of infrastructure and quickly offer more competitive, [innovative services](https://www.financedigest.com/accelerating-financial-services-innovation-with-the-promise-of-data-mesh.html "Accelerating financial services innovation with the promise of data mesh ") to their customers. However, [due diligence](https://www.financedigest.com/a-digital-first-world-means-investors-should-look-to-digital-due-diligence-first-too.html "A digital-first world means Investors should look to digital due diligence first too") must be carried out to ensure that these new providers have a performant infrastructure. Otherwise, they risk creating a weak link in the [digital supply chain](https://www.financedigest.com/eliminating-payment-barriers-the-future-of-supply-chain-payments-is-digitization.html "Eliminating Payment Barriers: The Future of Supply Chain Payments is Digitization") of services that has the ability to disrupt both user experience and business continuity. 4. **Rethinking private networks** – innovation of services and opening up the IT [environment to third parties can place demands on existing private networks that may not be optimised to handle the strain and stress of cloud](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-manage-identity-in-a-hybrid-cloud-environment.html "How to manage identity in a hybrid cloud environment"). Having visibility into the performance of existing networks and (re)configuring them to be optimised, in architecture and capability, is a major priority for this new reality. While there are several considerations to proactively address in this new era for financial technologies, it’s clear to me that the rise of cloud computing and a more open infrastructure will happen on its own – irrespective of Open Banking. App-only and mobile-first banks such as Monzo, Monese and Starling have experienced [customer adoption and fast growth](https://www.financedigest.com/impact-com-fiscal-year-h1-2021-1-5b-valuation-150m-in-funding-bigcommerce-integration-69-customer-growth.html "impact.com Fiscal Year H1 2021: .5B Valuation, 0M in Funding, BigCommerce Integration, 69% Customer Growth") thanks mainly to an improved user experience. There is no doubt that the innovation and investment in new financial technologies will [drive the whole industry](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-drive-a-data-culture-in-the-finance-industry.html "How to drive a data culture in the finance industry") towards a better outcome. However, the heavy reliance on [cloud](https://www.financedigest.com/the-future-of-finance-how-to-defend-against-the-top-threats-to-cloud-security.html "The Future of Finance: How to defend against the top threats to cloud security") networks could leave financial services companies more vulnerable. Outages at some of the start-up banks, [most notoriously Monzo](http://www.cityam.com/269745/monzo-has-apologised-over-outages-saying-they-continue-few), also demonstrate the serious consequences and barriers to adoption that weaknesses in a network can have. This must be a genuine concern for those [backing the ‘open banking](https://www.financedigest.com/canadian-banks-fighting-brokers-back-for-customers.html "Canadian Banks Fighting Brokers Back For Customers") revolution’. By addressing the points outlined above, however, [banks and other financial services companies will ensure that they mitigate the risks](https://www.financedigest.com/online-banking-benefits-and-risks-of-managing-your-finances-online.html "Online banking: benefits and risks of managing your finances online") and enjoy the rewards of a more innovative and satisfactory offering for their customers. --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---