NTT DATA Offers Digital Platform To Help Banks Compete With FinTechs

NTT DATA, based in Tokyo, is offering a new digital banking platform that the company said will help established financial institutions (FIs) “address transformation challenges with their legacy technology and to launch new services” more quickly.

In a press release, NTT said its new Platea Banking platform will help FIs compete with FinTech companies and neobanks. NTT said the platform aims to take a more customer-centric approach to banking. The company added: “As long-term partners to some of the world’s largest retail banks, NTT DATA has experienced these challenges for traditional banks firsthand and witnessed changes in the structure of banking created by the open banking era.”

Open banking allows third-party financial services providers to access consumers’ bank accounts and transactions, along with other financial data. NTT described its new offering as an open banking platform with “a set of functional modules” that allow banks to build on it over time. The idea is to offer banks the flexibility to grow their digital offerings at their own pace. “The modules include a full suite of services, from customer onboarding to lending, planning and financial management, card issuing and processing, and payments, among others,” stated the release.

Manuel Romero, NTT’s global head of open banking practice, said: “Technology plays a central role in helping banks innovate and deliver next-generation banking services to their customers. With consumers demanding digital banking experiences, it is imperative that banks act accordingly.”

In the U.S., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is starting a rule-making process that may help determine and standardize what data can be shared, as well as when it is shared and between what parties. The U.S. Dodd-Frank Act provides guidance for information a consumer financial services provider must make available to consumers about how their data is accessed, maintained and used.

“This type of consumer-authorized data access and use holds the promise of improved and innovative consumer financial products and services, enhanced control for consumers over their financial lives, and increased competition in the provision of financial services to consumers,” said the CFPB.