The Open Bank Project is a European lead initiative to open up financial transactions to much larger groups of individuals and raise the bar of financial transparency.

1. Four main drivers:
1) Malpractice, Distrust, Corruption and Fraud
2) Missing Web 2.0 approaches
3) Need disclosure / privacy options including Open Data
4) Simple API protocols missing / lacking

2. Inspiration
About 5 Years ago I was
Thinking about
Corruption.....
..and a new type of bank..
Image source: John C. McCall and Christey Carwile,
Other Africas, http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/otherafricas/

3. Then - Summer 2008 - Working in a
theatre in Athens..
I said: “Lots
of EU funded
projects here.”
Lots of
Set designer said: “
corruption here!”
2 years later,
Greece is in big
trouble.....

4. 1
Corruption and Fraud:
Over €30 Billion lost each year in Europe.
78% of European citizens think corruption is
a problem in their own country.
Corruption - most talked-about global
problem, according to a new BBC poll of
more than 13,000 people across 26
countries.
'Corruption distorts markets and competition, breeds cynicism... undermines
the rule of law... damages government legitimacy, and corrodes the integrity
of the private sector' - Ben W. Heineman Jr. and Fritz Heimann, The Long War against Corruption

5. Accounting / Banking Scandals,
Corporate and financial malpractice
Some examples of failed banks: Bear Stearns,
Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Northern Rock,
Anglo Irish Bank, Glitnir...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals
2007–2010 Financial Crisis is the worse since the 1930's great depression...

6. Charitable Status?
Just a few examples of recent scandals involving charities:

7. Aid Money. Aiding who?
The World Bank StAR initiative was setup to
recover stolen assets.

8. http://www.cmi.no/publications/publication/?2752=corruption-
and-fraud-in-international-aid-projects

9. http://www.cmi.no/publications/publication/?2752=corruption-
and-fraud-in-international-aid-projects

10. 2005 Paris Declaration.

11. 2005 Paris Declaration.

12. Transparency International

13. “Corrupt acts are almost always hidden. If you are behaving
honestly in the public or private sector, you will rarely have
a need to hide your actions.“ - Corruption, Inequality, and the Rule of Law, Eric M. Uslaner
Corruption
Inequality +
Distrust +
Information Deficit

14. Less Corruption
Inequality +
Distrust + Empowerment
Weak Law +
Information Deficit Timely Transparency
Good for Democracy!

15. Public “Financial Debug Tools”
Fraudulent and Corrupt behaviour would be easier to spot / less likely
to happen if the public had access to “Financial Debug Tools”

16. 2
Banks not very Web
2.0 – Don't allow
easy integration with
rd
3 party tools and
services.

17. Most people use software
provided by their bank to
connect to their bank..

18. But services such as Twitter and
Flickr prove the benefits of
rd
enabling 3 party software to
access services: The local
monopoly is disrupted.
An “API” allows original, high
quality applications to flourish.

19. e.g. this moneybunny app tags bank statements using
emails from vendors for easier accounting. (currently using HBCI)

20. 3
Financial Privacy / Disclosure
shouldn't have to be strictly
ON or OFF

21. Current status:
A Traditional Savings Account. No one else can (should) login.
Traditional Savings Account
Level of Detail
financial account sub some full transaction
“comfort” balance category transaction details
indicator totals details
hidden
Frequency
yearly quarterly monthly weekly daily real-time
Disclosure
no sharing share share with share with share with
(full privacy) with tax company friends everyone
office (public)

22. But what if you want to share with your accountant / tax office?
Current Account shared with accountant
Level of Detail
financial account sub some full transaction
“comfort” balance category transaction details
indicator totals details
hidden
Frequency
yearly quarterly monthly weekly daily real-time
Disclosure
no sharing share with share with share with share with
(full privacy) accountant / company friends everyone
tax office (public)

23. What if a Company wants to easily share its financial transactions with its
board / share holders / team?
Company
Level of Detail
financial account sub some full transaction
“comfort” balance category transaction details
indicator totals details
hidden
Frequency
yearly quarterly monthly weekly daily real-time
Disclosure
no sharing share share with share with share with
(full privacy) with tax company friends everyone
office (public)

24. A Company
●
Could access a better choice of financial software
applications, platforms and services.
●
Could grant read access to key stake holders.
●
Could enable its IT staff to more easily write and
integrate secure applications across multiple bank
accounts in different countries.

25. An NGO or Charity could practice public transparency by revealing
transactions to the web in real time.
NGO / Charity
Level of Detail
financial account sub some full transaction
“comfort” balance category transaction details
indicator totals details
hidden
Frequency
yearly quarterly monthly weekly daily real-time
Disclosure
no sharing share share with share with share with
(full privacy) with tax company friends everyone
office (public)

26. A Charity
●
Can better engage key stake holders in their financial affairs.
●
Receive comments, better deal suggestions and fraud alerts from the public.
●
Can demonstrate accountablilty, transparency and value for money.
●
Can better integrate with financial systems and networks.
• “The Public donates, The Public sees.”

27. Publicly Funded Projects
●
Citizens pay, Citizens see..
- where their money goes in real time.
●
Foster greater trust and engagement in Governments / EU.
●
Crowd source alerts of fraudulent behaviour.
•“High Trust – High Distrust”
Lewicki, McAllistair, Bies 1998, Trust and distrust: new relationships and realities.

28. 4
Existing Protocols:
• HBCI/FinTS in German speaking countries (and OFX in the U.S.A.)
BUT..
• Non standard server side implementations make client implementation difficult.
• Development and bug fixing is slow
• No 3rd party authorisation.
• Full login credentials required, so the user grants more access rights to the 3 rd
party web application than needed. Ths violates banks' Terms of Service
• Not RESTful / Not worldwide / Not Open Source
The Open Bank Project will leverage existing protocols where they exist and provide connectors for them.

29. Banks and their
customers benefit
from an API
An Open Source RESTful API
gateway would greatly increase the
choice of tools, software and
services available to a bank's
customers in a trustworthy, secure
manner...
This is good for the bank – and its customers!

30. Greater application diversity, originality, choice,
support options etc.

31. An Open Bank – all accounts open to the Public
- Attractive to those engaged in transparency
- New business models and communities emerge
- Transactions of the bank itself are transparent
- Community can make “better deal” suggestions
- Open Source software is used and created, further
promoting a healthy financial technical ecosystem.

32. Federated trust networks
Organisation
Data

33. The Open Bank Project Aims to:
●
Open transaction data to larger groups of people and software
applications
●
Raise the bar of financial transparency
●
Enable more enjoyable and productive ways to access
transaction data
How?
• Apply Web 2.0, Secure Internet Standards, RFC
●
Use and produce Open Source technology
●
Crowd Source: ideas, feedback, bugs + trust networks
(Examples: Wikipedia, Flickr, Facebook, Apache, Postgres, Firefox....)

34. Research Topics
●
Multi peer trust networks (Know your customer)
●
Generic auth connectors
●
Secure Actor based systems (Scala)
●
DSL's
●
Multiple identity authorities Comifin
●
Access control. PoSecCo
●
Socio questions: privacy, legal, ABC4Trust
●
data hashing. ENDORSE
Picos
Get input from other innovations Parsifal
such as Bit Coin, Open Coin and Awissenet
other research projects. Inco-Trust
Spacios

35. Team
Simon Redfern (Founder). Web Applications / Database Engineer, Berlin
Ismail Chaib, TESOBE
Jan Bölsche. Independent Software Architect, Berlin
Bruno Girin. Independent Internet Banking Solutions Architect, London
Florent André. Software Engineer (member of Apache foundation)
Emmanuel Lecharny, Software Engineer (member of Apache foundation)
Some Partners TESOBE, Berlin, Germany
- Raul Soriano, PROS, Spain
Fidor Bank AG, Munich, Germany
- Atos Origin, Spain
- Banca Civica, Spain ATB, Bremen, Germany
and more... CONTEXTIS , London, UK
CNRS, France
Sigma Orionis

36. In Conclusion:
The OPEN BANK PROJECT creates a radical
‘opening’ of banking transactions. It promotes both
financial transparency and security by engaging
public vigilance (‘many eyes’), increasing
customers’ confidence in adopting organizations
and their financial institutions.

37. Contact
Simon Redfern
simon AT tesobe DOT com
http://www.openbankproject.com
@OpenBankProject