Last month, Sandstone Technology attended the Future of Financial Services conference in Sydney, staged annually by FST Events. The theme was a compelling one: ‘Pioneering Purpose Driven Innovation and Sustainability to Reshape the Future of Financial Services’.

We’re now in a market, post-Covid, where digital expectations have been pushed to new heights. Digital customer acquisition strategies are more important than ever, but financial institutions (FIs) are still seeing too many application dropouts. 

Michael Phillipou brings a unique combination of skills to his new role as CEO of Sandstone Technology – including that of an Australian Football League pundit. In an exclusive interview with Fintech Finance, Phillipou talk tactics as he maps out his plans to expand on the back of open banking.

Imagine if all financial data could be moved around like trains with pre-defined carriage content on a standard gauge. With financial transactions forming the backbone of so much of our commercially driven world and ever increasing in volume, it seems now is the time to address making them as efficient as possible.

The Open Banking deadline is nearing for Data Holders, the major banks have already complied with product reference data, whereas non-major ADIs including non-major banks, building societies and credit unions, are well set to comply with these requirements by Oct 1^st, 2020. While the compliance timelines for disclosure to accredited data recipients is still a few quarters away (phase-1 for major banks is Oct 2020 and for non-major banks/ADIs/ building society/credit unions is Feb 2021), the financial institutions have also started to define their strategy around being a Data Recipient. We are seeing a varied set of approaches to the Open Banking Consumer Data Right (CDR) compliance requirements. While the smaller financial institutions have primarily focused on compliance aspects, the mid-large tier organisations have taken a strategic approach to prepare themselves for a new world, where the customer and banking data can be potentially accessible to all financial institutions based on customer consent.