Head of open banking recruited for data aggregation platform

Data and analytics expert Dr John Harrison has been recruited for the newly created role of head of open banking for Envestnet | Yodlee. Mr Harrison joins the platform from TrueLayer, a global open banking platform, where he served as a product manager overseeing its data products in Australia.

Additionally, Mr Harrison was a data scientist and open banking product owner at Westpac.

His new role with Envestnet | Yodlee will see Mr Harrison responsible for taking charge of the organisation’s open banking strategy over Australia and New Zealand.

Along with this, he will be supporting commercial, product and engineering teams whilst working with clients to assist them in providing enhanced experiences with the consumer data right (CDR).

ANZ country manager at Envestnet | Yodlee Timothy Poskitt stated he is excited to have Mr Harrison on board as the platform continues its expansion across the region.

“This is a fantastic appointment both for John and our business and the new role reinforces our commitment to open banking within both the Australia and New Zealand markets,” Mr Poskitt stated.

“Open banking provides Australians and Kiwis with access to a more vibrant, competitive financial ecosystem.

“John’s technical experience will be invaluable, and I look forward to seeing him work closely with both existing and new customers in driving innovative open banking solutions, all built on secure, open data.”

Focus on technology evolution in regard to open banking

The aftermath of the Optus breach, which resulted in almost 10 million customers having their personal data stolen, emphasises the need for safety and security in the banking and finance sector.

These breaches have highlighted the importance of consistently evolving technology in order to keep up with other potential cyber attacks.

The federal government has prepared amendments to the Telecommunications Regulations 2021 Act, set to allow telecommunications companies to temporarily share approved government identifier information with regulated financial services entities in order to better safeguard the information of customers.

Chief customer officer Simon Docherty at Frollo said CDR was developed with consumers in mind, using the best technology available at the time.

However, it is important that this technology is always evolving, according to Mr Docherty.

“The government has mandated that all of the banks have to make consumer’s data available. And they do that via an API”, he said — which is an application programming interface, or secure back-end framework.

[RELATED: Evolution of technology paramount for open banking: Frollo]