Open Bank Project

Problem:
1) Widespread Financial Malpractice, Distrust, Corruption and Fraud
2) Banks not very “Web 2.0”

Open Bank Project:
1) A sliding scale of financial disclosure / privacy
2) An Open Source powered RESTful API

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/

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.....

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

“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 +
Weak Law +
Information Deficit

Aid Money. Aiding who?

The World Bank StAR initiative was setup to
recover stolen assets.

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

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...

2

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

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

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.

• Raising the bar of financial transparency

1.

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

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)

But what if you want to share with your accountant / tax office?

Current Account shared with accountant

Level of Detail
hidden

Frequency

Disclosure
no sharing share with share with share with share with
(full privacy) accountant / company friends everyone
tax office (public)

An NGO or Charity could practice public transparency by revealing
transactions to the web in real time.
NGO / Charity

Level of Detail
hidden

Frequency

Disclosure
office (public)

What if a Company wants to easily share its financial transactions with its
board / share holders / team?
Company

Level of Detail
hidden

Frequency

Disclosure
office (public)

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!

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

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

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.

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”

Empowerment

Transparency

Good for Democracy!

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 accountability, transparency and value for money.
●
Can better integrate with financial systems and networks.

• “The Public donates, The Public sees.”

Publicly Funded Projects
●
Citizens pay, Citizens see..
- where their money goes in real time.
●
Foster greater trust and engagement in Governments
●
Crowd source alerts of fraudulent behavior

•“High Trust – High Distrust”
Lewicki, McAllistair, Bies 1998, Trust and distrust: new relationships and realities.

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.

The Open Bank Project Aims to:
●
Open transaction data to larger groups of people and software
applications
●
Raise the bar of financial transparency (“many eyes”)
●
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....)

Team
Simon Redfern (Founder), TESOBE

Ismail Chaib, TESOBE

Jan Bölsche. Independent Software Architect, Berlin

Bruno Girin. Independent Internet Banking Solutions Architect, London

Raul Soriano, PROS, Spain

Florent André. Software Engineer (member of Apache foundation)
Emmanuel Lecharny, Software Engineer (member of Apache foundation)

Some Partners Banca Civica, Spain

Sigma Orionis
TESOBE, Berlin, Germany
CNRS, France
CONTEXTIS , London, UK
ATB, Bremen, Germany
Fidor Bank AG, Munich, Germany
Talking to other banks
PROS, Spain (Raul Soriano)
and more...
Atos Origin, Spain

Sig
Petition n Ou
rP
eti
tio
n!

http://chn.ge/o6ieIh

Contact
Simon Redfern

Email:
simon [AT] tesobe [DOT] com

http://www.openbankproject.com
@OpenBankProject

Coming soon: https://github.com/TESOBE/OpenBankProject

Challenge
How to get OBP widely adopted?

Objectives
Define 10 entities that would benefit from the OBP
Get 10 entities to adopt the OBP in a year
Engage 10 banks.

Constraints
A one year program
At least 1 charity,
Contributing to the Open Gov Data movement

Open Bank Project

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