At Wonderful Payments, we embrace new technology so all transactions are made using Open Banking to facilitate instant, secure payment to the reipient. With this in mind, it's important to understand just what Open Banking is, and how it works.
In simple terms, Open Banking is a new technology that significantly changes how banks and other financial institutions handle and share our financial data. By creating a secure system of communication between banks and third-party providers Open Banking allows businesses, charitable organisations and individuals to access better financial services and products. There are two broad functions of Open Banking:
At Wonderful Payments, we’re only using the first of these functions. Donations made on our platform are made directly from the donor’s bank account to the charity’s, rather than using methods like card payments.
The question of security is obviously an important one. It’s not just individual transactions that are completely secure: every provider behind an Open Banking service is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or a European equivalent. A good indicator of its legitimacy is the fact that the UK’s nine biggest banks and building societies were immediately enrolled into Open Banking. As of January 2021, 52 banks already offer Open Banking.
These are just the basics of Open Banking. There are loads of great examples to illustrate just how much it can do for good causes. To help charities get up to speed with finance technology and how it’s reshaping the third sector, we’ve created this comprehensive guide to Open Banking. Download the full document now – it’s totally free, so share it with anybody who might want to learn about Open Banking!
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