The social media feed... for all your finances
their voice, rather than tuning a radio themselves. Or perhaps you use Apple’s assistant Siri.
Now meet Alexa’s little sister ‘Livia’ – a financial virtual assistant. In future you could ask Alexa or Siri to ‘speak’ to Livia to find out your account balance or transfer money. Or ask Livia to find you a savings account. Livia could busy
HOW TO SURVIVE CHANGE
DO nothing if ‘open banking’ worries you. David Firth, of credit reference agency Callcredit, says: ‘No one can be forced to use open banking. You will need t o opt i n. ’ Companies will require permission to access your data.
CONSIDER switching before the reforms take hold. Comparison website GoCompare’s ‘midata’ tool can already find you a better account based on account history. herself with this task by ‘reading’ your bank account history and finding money based on how much you can afford to put away each month. You could even ask her to open the account for you.
There is work to be done on security so this remains a future possibility. In the meantime, Bank of Scotland is
CHECK out challenger banks such as M&S Bank, Metro, Virgin Money, Tesco Bank and Handelsbanken or new online providers Atom, Starling and Monzo.
USE the free automatic Current Account Switch Service, which safeguards the process.
BE scam-aware. Never surrender log-in and password details. trialling a virtual assistant in its banking app that can answer frequently asked questions in conversation.
APPSTORE FOR OPEN BANKING
Apple iPhone or iPad users can find apps to help with everyday life in the AppStore – everything from banking to live train information. Similarly, there is room for a company to design a trusted ‘financial feature marketplace’. This is where people can go on their smartphones to find financial apps that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
VERDICT
There is real potential to improve financial lives. Data will be filtered quickly at the touch of a button, so we can make more profitable or prudent decisions at speed.
This could attract people who previously had no time to better their finances. Those who never realised they were being ripped off might see for the first time how switching would benefit them.
Many will only join in once new technology sits seamlessly in the background. In other words, let someone else jump first. People will also need to be alert as scams evolve.
Laura Shannon
Find extra guidance from getsafeonline.org or takefive-stopfraud.org.uk.
REPORT any concerns about data misuse to watchdog the I nformation Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
MAKE sure companies are regulated by checking the register fca.org.uk