UK-based investment platform AJ Bell has become the first wealth management company to sign up for an open banking payment product provided by high street bank Lloyds.
The FundBy Bank payment option links investors’ bank accounts to their trading accounts using biometric authentication.
It is a product of the open banking initiative championed by the European Commission as a way to encourage more innovation in the retail banking space by allowing third-party providers, such as fintech startups, to access individual bank accounts.
So far, the open banking space has been dominated by payment providers and financial wellness apps and seldom has involved wealth and asset managers.
However, the announcement by AJ Bell and Lloyds could see greater interest from investment managers looking to improve their investors’ user experience.
The Fundby Bank payment option will be available on AJ Bell’s direct-to-consumer platform Youinvest.
“Our mission at AJ Bell is to make investing simple, straightforward, and easy to access for our customers,” said Tim Huckle, AJ Bell’s strategy director.
“With that aim in mind, we are constantly exploring new ways to improve the customer experience for people using our website and app to invest.”
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