Konsentus acquires Open Banking Europe from PRETA

Open Banking Europe S.A.S., a 100% owned subsidiary of Konsentus Limited, will remain a separate operating entity which will continue to be led by John Broxis. The software solutions of Open Banking Europe will be directly integrated into the Konsentus business.

Formed in June 2017, the Open Banking Europe (OBE) initiative has been hugely successful in bringing together market participants to turn regulatory requirements into operational reality. The initiative provides its members with a collaborative environment to identify market issues and problems, championing awareness and creating solutions via guidance,
standards and tools.

Konsentus was launched in 2018 to enable the safe and secure exchange of data and funds complying with PSD2 open banking access to accounts. The Directors, Mike Woods and Brendan Jones, recognised the need for a real-time, online solution to protect financial institutions against PSD2 Open Banking fraud. This also presented them with a global opportunity to be a leader in the provision of solutions and services for open banking,
finance and data.

Like Konsentus, OBE identified the need for a single, standardised, trusted and machine-readable repository of regulatory data related to third-party providers (TPPs), which led to the set-up of the OBE ‘Regulatory Directory’. The Directory consolidates information from the National Competent Authority registers, making it available in a way that is easy to access and process. It is used by over 500 of the largest financial institutions across Europe to support PSD2 access to account compliance processes.

Through a close co-operation with Konsentus over the coming months, PRETA, a fully-owned subsidiary of EBA CLEARING, will strive to ensure a smooth operational handover for all parties involved.

The Open Banking Europe Community will complement the work Konsentus is already doing to support the safe and secure exchange of financial and non-financial information between payment service providers and other market players for the benefit of the wider digital
economy.

Mike Woods, CEO, Konsentus, stated “Working with PRETA’s Open Banking Europe was an obvious next step to accelerate our European expansion and cement our position as market leader. We are delighted to welcome the clients of PRETA OBE to Konsentus and are proud that over 500 financial institutions, including some of the biggest and most
prestigious banks within Europe, will also become Konsentus clients. I am delighted that John Broxis, who was Managing Director of PRETA’s Open Banking Europe initiative, is joining the Konsentus team, which will ensure a smooth transition. In addition, his vast industry expertise will be invaluable in uniting the open banking ecosystem and global
community.”

Giorgio Ferrero, PRETA commented, “We identified the need for Open Banking Europe to grow beyond its incubation stage and move to the next level in an accelerated manner. With their global expansion plans, product pipeline and fast-growing partner and customer base, Konsentus is well-placed to pursue the initial ambition for OBE Europe to boost safe and
secure Open Banking globally. We are pleased to bring our OBE clients to this thriving environment, where they will continue to be well served by Konsentus and John Broxis, and can benefit from new and innovative Open Banking services on a European and global scale.”

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Open Banking Europe (OBE), a PRETA initiative, was launched in June 2017 with the aim of fostering innovation, competition and efficiency to increase consumer choice and enhance security for online payments in the EU. To do that, Open Banking Europe brings market players together to turn regulatory requirements into operational reality and to provide the
industry with PSD2 directory services. The full list of account-servicing payment service providers (AS-PSPs) and third-party providers (TPPs) that have joined the initiative so far can be found here.