Cirrostratus Exedra, the fintech founded by ex-MP John Hemming, claims to offer more Open Banking Interfaces to financial institutions than any other Open Banking Third Party Provider (TPP) after successfully adding Hargreaves Lansdown, Investec and The Access Bank.
Registered by the FCA to provide Account Information (AISP) as part of Open Banking, Cirrostratus Exedra is also authorised by HMRC to handle VAT and Income Tax Returns as part of the Making Tax Digital initiative.
Open Banking is a system of computer-to-computer interfaces that enable users to see all their bank balances in one place.
Many other providers in the sector concentrate on the nine larger institutions called the CMA9 which are made up of the UK’s largest banking conglomerates that are required by law to offer Open Banking facilities.
The nine banks represent a combined market share of over 90% of the UK’s consumer and small business bank accounts, however, Cirrostratus is looking to ensure that accounts held at the remaining 10% are also covered.
Market research indicates that the multibillion-pound company Sage is offering interfaces into over 30 banking networks. However, it has not been possible to find any other company promising more than 40 interfaces since a large proportion of the TPPs have concentrated on the CMA9.
John Hemming explained: “Cirrostratus now offers interfaces into 64 logins. This is the most consistent way of comparing Open Banking providers. Banks such as Barclays have a single login page that is used for a range of different services such as credit cards, personal or business banking. While Lloyds has four different logins for Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and MBNA to cover its customer base.”
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