The public pitch for open banking

Open banking has the opportunity to reconfigure the banking landscape to solve for consumer rights, tech-driven flexibility, and challenger innovation. But once regulators outline new rules for banking, banks will have to figure out ways to explain this new regulatory landscape to consumers, and outline the new products and powers accompanying those changes.

What strategies will banks adopt over the course of that mission? And what new power dynamics will arise?

New rules, new possibilities

Explaining new regulations can be a challenge. Marketers have to balance accessibility (making sure laws are explained in ways people can understand) without oversimplifying concepts (glossing over key concerns) or belittling customers through tone and language. 

Banks’ marketing teams will most likely emphasize what open banking does practically rather than what it is legally. Showing, not telling, how open banking can let customers move their data, direct deposits, and monthly payments seamlessly to a new bank that offers them better products and services, like higher interest rates, a better digital experience, or more personalized support.

Security comes first

Marketers will also have to assuage consumer skepticism and fear about major changes to banking. Showcasing the security features of API-driven banking will be key to making open banking work in the US, as well as proving that consumers have control over how their data is shared between financial institutions. 

The same balance that drives how marketers explain regulatory language applies to technical questions about security and data infrastructure. What’s more, banks will have to use more than clichés to showcase how security is their “#1 priority,” while also letting time post-launch demonstrate the rigor of their new security protocols.

A more level playing field?

But perhaps most importantly, open banking will let challenger banks convincingly compete with established giants. These smaller players will be able to take clients away from bigger competitors through APIs, speedier product-development timelines, and more modern solutions.

On the other hand, the big banks have the advantage of larger marketing budgets and teams. Maybe not crypto-Super Bowl levels, but challenger fintechs will still have sizable budgets themselves, and will have to do more with (relatively) less, selling the promise of open banking through innovative stories and mediums.