MSE News: Bank customers promised access to all their accounts via one app

Legacy_user · 9 August 2016 at 10:16AM

Banks have been told they must allow customers to manage accounts with multiple providers via a single app by 2018...

Read the full story:
'Bank customers promised access to all their accounts via one app as part of watchdog's banking 'shake-up''

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EarthBoy · 9 August 2016 at 10:22AM

This isn't news, -such apps already exist.

kingrulzuk · 9 August 2016 at 10:35AM

Really :eek::eek::eek:

Paul_Herring · 9 August 2016 at 11:58AM

EarthBoy wrote: »

This isn't news, -such apps already exist.

AccountUnity has been going for years.

Sadly since it relies on ActiveX (and, thus, IE) it's probably going to be obsolete soon

jamesd · 9 August 2016 at 12:05PM

No surprise to see banks persisting with the current account switching service approach that customers have comprehensively rejected. Maybe eventually we'll get a more useful approach instead, like easier moving of direct debits, standing orders and payments between accounts at the direction of consumers.

Doshwaster · 9 August 2016 at 12:18PM

I've tried a few account aggregation services but they usually run into trouble with two factor identification. You can't really have a single "dashboard" view of all your accounts if some of them need logging in with a different code each time.

I'd like to see moving accounts made easier but I'm not sure what can be done. If sort codes were portable then you would need a central authority which tracked them and identified which bank they belonged to.

jamesd · 9 August 2016 at 3:40PM

Doshwaster wrote: »

If sort codes were portable then you would need a central authority which tracked them and identified which bank they belonged to.

That's a pretty trivial operation for each lookup given the low number of transactions in the UK banking system and there's already a central service of sorts involved in the Faster Payments service. Much more work to provide ways for consumers to say where each payment should come from or go to and provide nice audit trails so things can be traced, mistakes corrected and problems solved.

Making it easier for customers to move direct debits, standing orders and other payments between accounts at different banks is something that might be enabled via the shared account access. That in turn could put consumers more in control of any switching that they want to do, whether that's only shifting a few direct debits or moving everything.

Pincher · 9 August 2016 at 4:12PM

One ring to rule them all,

And in the Darkness hack them.

I separate my accounts, and try not to keep my pass words in one note book. When I travel, I have multiple locations for money, credit cards, etc., so that if one set gets taken, I still have something to fall back on.

Silly Billys.

agrinnall · 9 August 2016 at 4:50PM

Pincher wrote: »

One ring to rule them all,

And in the Darkness hack them.

I separate my accounts, and try not to keep my pass words in one note book. When I travel, I have multiple locations for money, credit cards, etc., so that if one set gets taken, I still have something to fall back on.

Silly Billys.

I agree, the whole thing sounds like a recipe for disaster. I don't use account aggregators, and I don't even have any mobile banking apps, which may make me a bit of a dinosaur but I'd rather do my online banking from a single PC using my home broadband than on a device that could disappear from my pocket in an instant over networks with dubious security.

colsten · 9 August 2016 at 5:45PM

agrinnall wrote: »

I agree, the whole thing sounds like a recipe for disaster. I don't use account aggregators, and I don't even have any mobile banking apps, which may make me a bit of a dinosaur but I'd rather do my online banking from a single PC using my home broadband than on a device that could disappear from my pocket in an instant over networks with dubious security.

Do you also wear a tin hat whilst doing your online banking? I'm not a great fan myself of mobile banking apps, but mainly because I need a larger screen to do things on, and a proper keyboard. But mobile security can be at least as good if not better than on a PC. Biometric security - fingerprint, voice, face recognition - can all be used to make the user experience at lot better than it is today.

Another reason I don't want to use a mobile app is the account aggregator - I couldn't possibly manage my 30+ accounts without an account aggregator. Again, I can't see how they could create something usable for a small mobile device. My account overview page already has more data than fits on a large display! So I remain very sceptical about the usability of mobile banking for serious users.

As to current account switching............I don't understand what the obsession with it is. Perhaps the uptake is so low because people are actually quite happy with their accounts?

spenderdave · 9 August 2016 at 6:05PM

Apart from switching to get the best interest on high interest current accounts (which could quite well have disappeared by the time these changes come in...) this all seems to be aimed at those paying excess charges for unauthorised overdrafts. Surely if you have unauthorised overdrafts you need to get you finances in order or at least arrange authorised overdrafts before moving your debts elsewhere. Otherwise no incentive to move.

MSE News: Bank customers promised access to all their accounts via one app

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