Open Banking - No longer supported by HSBC !!!

Cmdr_Bond

I have successfully added my Santander Current and Savings Accounts, My Halifax Clarity Creditcard Account and my Barclaycard Creditcard Account inside my Lloyds Mobile Banking App so I can see them alongside my 2 Lloyds Current Accounts and 1 Savings Account.

Tesco Bank are not yet listed as a provider by Lloyds, so i can't add them yet.

This leaves (for me) HSBC.

I have a HSBC Credit card, in the Lloyds App it shows that Current, Savings, and Creditcard accounts from HSBC are eligible to be added.

When I follow through on the links, it opens the HSBC app, I complete security, and it tells me I have no eligible accounts!

I have just spent nearly 30 minutes on the phone to one of their call centres, most of which I was on hold while he went around different departments.

The person I spoke with claims that HSBC NO LONGER supports open banking.

I queried why they advertise it on their website, and was told that the website will be updated in due course

This is the link to their page on open banking: https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/open-banking/

I have also saved a copy in the WayBack Machine - so if it is updated, it would still be available to view, that can be seen here: https://web.archive.org/web/20191209140104/https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/open-banking/

For the link lazy, here is what it says:

HSBC_Open_Banking wrote:

What is Open Banking?

Open Banking can let you see all of your accounts, wherever you bank together in one place. And, it allows you to securely share information with third parties, who can then provide you with a range of services to make payments easier, and give you budgeting tools to help you better manage your money.

There are two main ways Open Banking can help you:

1. Account information sharing: by sharing your information securely with a third party app, you could connect your accounts and view all of your balances and transactions in a single place. Plus, you could use product comparison sites to check if there’s a more suitable account for your lifestyle.
   
   
2. Making payments: you'll be able to send money directly from your HSBC account through third parties in just a few steps, to make payments simpler.

How a third party would access your accounts

Third parties will need your consent to access your HSBC payment accounts. It’s important you understand the services they’re providing and how they’ll use your data.

There are two ways that a third party would access your account for information sharing:

1. Application Programming Interface (API) based access
   
   The third party will ask you to provide your consent and you’ll be securely redirected to HSBC's authentication process. This will be similar to the way you log on to online banking. If you’re using our Mobile Banking app you’ll simply be able to use your face or touch ID to authenticate it, where available.
   
   If you’re having trouble authenticating, make sure you follow the on-screen instructions on how to generate the security code.
   
   Once authenticated you can select the accounts you want to share. The third party will ask you to provide your consent to them accessing your account data either as a one-off, or for a period of time for example, two years. Depending on the duration of the consent you provide to the third party, you may need to refresh their access every 90 days through our online authentication process.
   
   
2. Screen scraping access
   
   Before a third party can access your account, they’ll need to identify themselves to HSBC and we’ll check that they have permission to access your account. Third parties may then access your accounts by logging on using your online banking security credentials.
   
   They’ll need to request this information from you each time, which they’ll share with us. The third party will be able to access information in a similar way to when you use online banking. This is commonly known as screen scraping.
   
   You should be aware that they’ll have access to all the information you see online in relation to your accounts. This includes the account summary, payee information and balance data. All third parties that access your information must comply with data protection laws and must be registered or authorised with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
   
   If you’re concerned about the data you’ve shared and feel it may have been used incorrectly, get in touch with the organisation or the third party provider as soon as possible.

How to make payments with Open Banking

API-based payments

You’ll be asked to provide consent to the third party before being redirected to HSBC for authentication, much like account information sharing. Third parties can ask you for the sort code and account number of where the payment will come from, or you can select those details after the authentication process and confirm the payment to be made.

When the process is complete we’ll send the requested information to the third party or make the payment.

Screen scraping payments

Third parties will ask you to input your online banking security credentials into their website or application. Using this information, the third party will be able to initiate payments in a similar way, as if you were logged into online banking directly.

How card-based payment instruments work

A new payment method known as card-based payment instrument issuer has been introduced, which allows a third party to issue you with a card which you can link to the payment account(s) of your choice.

You can make payments with that card and the third party will ask us for confirmation that you have the available funds in your account.

We’ll only respond with a yes or no answer. If the third party wants to access the funds in your accounts, they’ll need to make separate arrangements with you.

If you experience a problem with your third party issued card, get in touch directly with the organisation or third party provider who issued the card.

Need more information?

Visit the Open BankingOpen Banking This link will open in a new window website for more information.

If you have a technical problem with making payments, or if you believe a third party has accessed information through screen scraping which they shouldn’t have, let us know on:

03457 404 404

Lines are open from 8am to 10pm every day (except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day) and we'll do everything we can to sort it out straight away.

Alternatively, if you’re not happy with any of our services visit our complaints and feedback page.

Cmdr_Bond

I have done some further digging, and found the following:

https://community.freeagent.com/freeagent/topics/hsbc-and-open-banking-stopped-tpp-access

FreeAgent_-_09/05/2019 wrote:

...
We understand that HSBC have recently sent an email to their customers advising that they're revoking consent for third party services to access customer banking data. We can confirm that these changes should not impact your HSBC feed(s) in FreeAgent as our data comes via an alternative system which is subject to a different consent process.

You might be interested to know that we're currently working with HSBC to develop a direct banking connection powered via Open Banking. We'll be sharing more details about these feeds in the near future, though for now, your HSBC feeds should continue to work as normal.


Regards,
Craig
Product Manager

And these:
https://community.emma-app.com/t/hsbc-status-update/971
https://community.emma-app.com/t/hsbc-second-status-update-v2/993

Emma_-_27/08/2019 wrote:

Hey Saver,

this is Edoardo, co-founder and CEO of Emma.

I am writing to give you an update on your HSBC connection!

As of Friday, the bank has rolled out a new way to authenticate to your accounts, called Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). This means that you will need to use the digital secure key every time you want to login on the HSBC website.

This is a requirement of a big European regulation (PSD2) which forces banks to:

• Adopt SCA on all their payment accounts (current, credit cards and savings)
• Provide access to these types of accounts via API

In terms of Emma, this meant that we needed to start adopting the second point, otherwise you would have needed to re-login every time to refresh data.

This is why we have started transitioning everyone to Open Banking, which is a backed government initiative that introduces a lot of innovation in the space - you won’t need to share your credentials anymore and will have to just authorise access on the HSBC app.

The Problem
Unfortunately, HSBC is not currently providing access to some payment accounts via API. Open Banking is only returning us Current Accounts. For this reason, we have filed several reports to the Financial Conduct Authority to understand why this is happening and if they have the legal right to do so.

At this point, we don’t have any news and are working with the regulator, the Open Banking directory, our service provider and legal team to understand how to take action and win the battle for an open and transparent financial system!

The Solution
For the time being, we are going to continue supporting HSBC (current accounts) via Open Banking and will transition any existing account not supported (credit cards & savings) to the “Closed Accounts” section of the app.

We hope these accounts will soon be back on Emma, alongside the 10,000+ banks we support across 2 continents; but this doesn’t really depend on us.

The ball is in the hands of the bank and regulator. We truly believe we are on the verge of a financial revolution and need your help to bring these accounts back!

Emma_-_30/08/2019 wrote:

Hey Saver,

this is Edoardo, co-founder and CEO of Emma.

I am writing to give you a second update on your HSBC connection! We sent an email on Tuesday, which you can find it here and explains why some of your accounts might not be updating.

As you have seen, since Friday, the bank has enforced the use of the digital secure key to access your online banking. This means that our existing connection doesn’t work anymore and you will need to transition to Open Banking to keep updating it.

If this is impacting you, you will see a card in the feed asking to transition. This system is super smooth and the future, so please migrate today!

News
While Current Accounts are working completely fine, Credit cards and savings accounts are no longer updating because the bank doesn’t provide them via Open Banking.

We have been talking directly with the people in charge of their Open Banking division and they have reassured us they are doing anything they can to bring them back.

They will let us know, in the next few weeks, the exact dates, which we are going to communicate with you in order to bring the service back as normal.

Despite having sent a really “aggressive” first communication, we do believe, after chatting with HSBC, that we can solve this by collaborating directly with them. They are treating this with the max priority and realise the issue they have created us.

As always, we’ll continue communicating via our social media channels, so make sure to keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook. We have also included a message in your Emma feed and in our community forum to keep the matter as clear and transparent as possible.

May the gummy bear power be with you!

Best,

Edoardo Moreni

ozaz

HSBC have never supported provision of savings account data via open banking. I'm not sure about the history of their provision of credit card data although it might be the same. I would guess both will be added sometime in 2020. I believe they have to add credit card support (they don't have a choice). They don't have to add savings account support, but I suspect they will add it anyway as other banks have been including savings account support in the data they provide via open banking.

They have been supporting provision of current account data through open banking for a few weeks or months. I am connected via Emma and my last successful sync was this morning.

I wouldn't trust the knowledge of front line customer service staff from a high street bank on open banking.

sal_III

I don't think its a matter of "no loner support", as much as "still not support" open banking for anything but current accounts.

At least that's my experience. Open banking has never worked for my CC, but still working for my current account.

Cmdr_Bond

Agreed, I'm only going with what was said - the agent told me "no longer".

Also you could be correct about the savings and cc side.

However I have successfully connected my Halifax and Barclaycard credit cards.

Zanderman

Cmdr_Bond wrote: »

Agreed, I'm only going with what was said - the agent told me "no longer".

Also you could be correct about the savings and cc side.

However I have successfully connected my Halifax and Barclaycard credit cards.

If you agree that the 'no longer' is incorrect perhaps you could change (or ask someone else to change) your rather misleading and slightly alarming thread title...