In 2020 we surveyed Hedgebook’s corporate clients and found 91% of respondents were open to sharing more information with their banks through Hedgebook’s API if it delivered efficiencies. This result wasn’t a complete surprise – here’s why.
Move to open banking
While we weren’t expecting the number to be this high, perhaps we shouldn’t have been so surprised. The survey was conducted around the time of the first anniversary of Open Banking in the UK. This is an initiative designed to drive innovation for consumers by opening opportunities for third parties to access data from financial institutions, including banks, when requested by the client. According to the Open Banking Organisation’s website:
While Open Banking has yet to really catch fire, the sentiment, and activity underpinning it, has. This is something we increasingly see emerging in treasury risk management.
Digging further and identifying the reasons finance departments or treasurers decide to implement a treasury system helps makes sense of the headline figure.
Our clients have leveraged digitisation to free themselves from previously repetitive, low value work so they can focus on delivering actual value to their company.
Leading reasons for selecting Hedgebook in our client survey included: streamlining and automating processes; getting total visibility of hedging and exposure across all counterparties; and improving operational efficiency.
Banks don’t have to go it alone – clients want to share
Treasury clients require a lot from their bank. Many have wish-lists that could fill a product roadmap for the next two years. The good news is that banks don’t have to do it all on their own. While large financial institutions can be slow to respond and adapt to changing requirements, others are embracing the opportunities to expand their marketplace through emerging fintech solutions.
Hedgebook is engaged with a small number of progressive banks wanting to offer enhanced FX risk management products and analytical capabilities, beyond their core portfolio, through our APIs. By working together we’re helping deliver the change demanded by an increasingly sophisticated client base that is as open to giving as it is taking.
As always – we’re happy to share – if you’re a bank (or a bank customer) please get in touch to find out more.