Revolut launches Open Banking for one million French customers with Truelayer

via AltFi

Revolut has launched open banking for its more than one million users in France through a partnership with Truelayer.

Users of Revolut in France  can now connect their Crédit Mutuel, Caisse d’Epargne, Banque Populaire, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, BNP Paribas and Hello Bank! bank accounts to Revolut, allowing them to view all their balances and transactions in a single app.

Open banking, the process of connecting accounts held by customers in different banks through an Application Programming Interface (API), is seen by many fintech commentators as the next long term phase of the disruption to the traditional analogue banking model. Adherents argue that it will widen out to a broad ‘open finance’ ecosystem that helps customers get better deals from a wide range of financial products and drive competition. 

Critics of open banking argue that the technology has been slow to get off the ground.

Joshua Fernandes, Product Owner Open Banking at Revolut, says the firm’s deployment of open banking in France allows customers to view several bank accounts in the same place, allowing them to have a global view of their daily expenses without having to switch from one banking app to another.

“We are delighted to see the new regulations facilitating a more open banking world, for the benefit of the greatest number of people.”

Francesco Simoneschi, co-founder and CEO of TrueLayer, says the launch marks a big expansion of its operations in France.

““There has been a certain degree of scepticism regarding the progress of PSD2 in the EU, however, this partnership shows that it is advancing at pace.” 

“Revolut’s customers in France will now start to be able take advantage of all the benefits of Open Banking, enabling them to have a much more comprehensive view of their finances, as well as greater control and oversight. We’re certain that, with France’s reputation for technological innovation, that both consumers and businesses will be quick to recognise these benefits and embrace Open Banking. We’re looking forward to supporting Revolut in their mission to build more great customer experiences.” 

Revolut launched open banking functionality in the UK earlier in the year and also more recently in Ireland.