Colombia issues decree to enable open banking

Colombia's financial industry regulator URF approved a decree to enable open banking.

The decree specifies rules for the transfer of consumer data between financial entities, promotes access to that data to facilitate the development of financial services and functionalities, and clarifies the rules under which entities can market financial services via electronic platforms, among others.

The new regulation allows the commercialization of clients’ personal data if they signed an agreement. It also enables financial entities to offer third-party products or services for sale via electronic channels and to market the technology and infrastructure to provide their services to third parties.

Likewise, regulation is included for the initiation of payments.

Watchdog Superfinanciera has 12 months to establish the technological, security and other standards for the open financial architecture.

Following Mexico and Brazil, Colombia is the third country in Latin America to implement open banking regulation. Chile’s fintech law also includes open finance. It is in the second constitutional process in the senate’s finance committee.

Other countries in the region are also considering implementing open finance.