The taskforce will advise the UK Government on how to use financial data to increase SMEs' access to finance, building on the earlier work done by CFIT.

The taskforce was introduced by Bim Afolami MP, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, during the 10th annual Innovative Finance Global Summit (IFGS) held at Guildhall in the City of London.

"Open banking has been a huge success," he declared, adding that over nine million customers in the UK are currently utilizing this technology, positioning the country as a global leader. It is evident that by utilizing customer data, fintechs can leverage technology to provide real benefits to both businesses and consumers.

Because of this, the government is attempting to establish the fundamental framework for open banking, including a new regulatory structure that will be put in place to control the exchange of data in the financial services industry.

I'm excited to declare today that an open finance taskforce has been formally established. The taskforce will develop a precise set of suggestions. identifying the commercial incentive datasets required to further the open finance SME lending use case of CFIT.

The recently formed taskforce
In order to improve SME credit availability, the taskforce will be tasked with discovering and prioritizing additional use cases for open finance, choosing which data sets to unlock, and developing APIs.


In addition, it will find economically feasible ways to encourage companies to exchange their financial information in a secure manner. Finally, it will decide what should happen next in terms of putting any recommendations into practice.

"Open finance is the next great opportunity for our economy," stated Ezechi Britton MBE, CEO of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology. "Britain has long led the way when it comes to innovation in financial services."

We are therefore thrilled to have received an invitation from the EST to serve as the chair of a newly formed commission led by top financial institutions and tech firms. The purpose of CFIT's founding last year was to remove obstacles preventing the UK fintech sector from expanding, and today's announcement will guarantee that this momentum doesn't slow down.


Late in February, CFIT published the Blueprint Report, which emphasized the significance of moving forward with proofs of concept (PoCs) created in partnership with HSBC and Citizens Advice.

With the help of these Proofs of Concept, we hope to show how open finance helps vulnerable customers and increases the amount of loans given to SMEs. CFIT is currently debating