Open Up 2020 receives more than 100 applications from innovative fintechs

The Open Up 2020 Challenge, designed to stimulate open banking enabled solutions to help people across the UK make more of their money, has received 107 high quality entrants from fintechs.

Applications for the £1.5m prize fund, operated by Nesta Challenges and run in partnership with the Open Banking Implementation Entity, closed this week (2 October). The successful entries that will progress to the next stage will be selected by a high-profile panel of judges from organisations such as the Alan Turing Institute, Bank of England, Citizens Advice and the Open Banking Implementation Entity. Nesta Challenges has invited the following to attend the judging panel:

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Susanne Chishti – CEO, Fintech Circle.

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Christine Foster – managing director for Innovation, The Alan Turing Institute.

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Farhan Lalji – principal – Venture Partnerships, Anthemis, entrepreneur-in-residence at King’s College London, part-time lecturer in managing digital organizations at London Business School.

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Colm Lyon – CEO and founder, Fire.com and appointed to the UK Finance Payments, Products & Services Board.

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Chris Michael – head of technology, Open Banking Implementation Entity.

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Varun Paul – Future of Finance, Bank of England.

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Shefali Roy – COO and CCO, TrueLayer and previously named on Innovate Finance’s Most Powerful Women in FinTech List.

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Ilse Treurnicht – Former CEO, MaRS Discovery District, chairs the Impact Canada Advisory Committee, member of Canada’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Advisory Committee on Open Banking.

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Matthew Upton – director of policy, Citizens Advice.

Chris Gorst, head of better markets, Nesta Challenges, said: “We have been delighted with the creativity and quality of the entries for Open Up 2020 from a diverse range of innovative fintechs using open banking. Selecting 15 finalists to take forward is going to be a tough call for our panel of expert judges. We look forward to working with the successful entrants to help them bring their innovative products to market and transform the way people, particularly the financially vulnerable, manage their money.”

Imran Gulamhuseinwala OBE, trustee of the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), commented: “We have been extremely encouraged by the high standard of the applicants to Open Up 2020. The entries not only reinforce the UK’s position as the leading fintech centre of the world, but also showcase our innovation in utilising open banking technology to help consumers make their money work harder. Open banking has the potential to revolutionise UK financial services by giving people control over their financial data, and Open Up 2020 is a crucial part of this journey.”

Open banking allows people to get personalised, tailored information to help them manage their money by giving consent for regulated companies to securely analyse their bank data. Products and services powered by open banking are beginning to show how people can revolutionise their finances through better budgeting, managing debt, automating savings, and making it easier to compare products. Half (48%) of people would like new tools and apps to help them manage their money and Open Up 2020 is incentivising innovators to accelerate the development of these tools even further.

The successful applicants selected by the judges will be announced on Wednesday 6 November 2019. To find out more visit: openup.challenges.org