In the UK, the way in which the banks communicate financial information between themselves has changed over the last 6 months. Originally all banks were due to have implemented what is called ‘Open Banking‘ by 14 September 2019. However, the deadline for the implementation was extended by 6 months. The extension was to provide banks more time to get their systems set up and organised.

What is open banking?

‘Open Banking’ is seen as a new way in which banks and financial institutions can transfer financial data more quickly and more securely than in the past with the customer having more control over the transfer of data.

What are the changes to open banking?

As of 14th March 2020, the majority of the large banks have changed their systems and have been able to provide ‘Open Banking’ for cloud accounting provides. However, as of today, not all banks have been able to complete the transition.

Previously most cloud-based accounting applications used Yodlee to provide their bank feeds. As of 14th March 2020, the majority of these feeds were due to have stopped working and therefore as a user you will need to either upgrade to the new ‘Open Banking’ feed within you application or alternatively if the feed is not available at present then you will need to manually import your bank transactions into your application.

Need help with your online accounting?

If you have any queries then please contact your normal contact at Ellacotts who will be able to assist. Alternatively, you can contact us here.

Visit the support pages for both Xero and Freeagent to see the banks that are affected and whether the ‘Open Banking’ feeds are available at present.