Trust is the foundation: The vital role trust plays in ecosystems

David Beardmore, Raidiam’s Ecosystems Development Director, looks at the importance of trust in data sharing ecosystems.  

I was struck this week by two different views of the same thing – a new-build house. One was the glossy marketing brochure to showcase the final product in all its anticipated glory, and the other was the actual site where the building work has started. The brochure makes fantastic claims about the quality of life we’d enjoy living there experiencing such benefits as the tranquillity and the ease of access. However, the vision I was met with upon driving onto the site was quite the opposite of idyllic with the builders labouring in mucky conditions to set out the foundations. It was precision and vital work, accurately measured and carefully constructed to ensure the stability of the impending structure, and yet the new owners will never see these foundations that are the cornerstone to the ensured future of their new home. 

You may wonder what this has got to do with data sharing ecosystems. Stick with me and I’ll explain. 

The challenge of trust

At Raidiam, we solve the challenge of trust across data sharing ecosystems. We’re known for being the only company to provide Trust Frameworks – that is, the technical platform, processes and infrastructure necessary to guarantee safe and secure data sharing between an ecosystem’s regulated participants – for all the world’s current live national Open Banking and Open Finance initiatives. 

And whilst there is a great deal happening in planning for Open Banking and Open Finance ecosystems in many countries, it’s not just the wider financial services industry where establishing trust is a challenge. 

There are other areas of society, some far removed from the world of financial services, where trust is also a major challenge and establishing it as a systemic platform is a critical foundation. Think of any area of life where multiple organisations and individuals need to be involved in at least part of the overall journey – for example, telecoms, healthcare or buying a house – in order for it to happen and conclude. All those parties need to be able to trust each other and securely communicate relevant information. 

Whether we are building an ecosystem to share financial data for Open Banking or Open Finance, or connecting the various necessary parties to help buy and sell a property, trust must be established to ensure that: 

• Only those parties who are authorised to be there by the ecosystem owner – be it a regulator or an enterprise – are participating; 
• That these authorised participants are carrying out activities permitted by the role they have (the ecosystem owner sets the rules for different roles, such as Account Information Services (AIS) and Payment Initiation Services (PIS) in Open Banking); 
• That the consents of the data owners (often consumers or SMEs) are appropriately managed, only allowing the access and sharing of data in line with them; and   
• That authorised participants are regularly verified to ensure they are conforming with the current standards for security, data sharing and user experience.

The foundations of trust shouldn’t be overlooked

So back to my house building analogy… When advertising or selling a house, no-one talks about the foundations, how sturdy they are or whether they’re designed and built to the appropriate standard. It tends to be taken as a given and we trust that the builders have followed established industry best practice and building regulations to ensure this is the case. Instead, we focus on the things we can see and are much more interesting such as the rooms, walls and stairs. 

And this is often the same when discussing data sharing ecosystems – in fact people don’t really talk about the ecosystems themselves (unless they’re in the industry!). They only focus on the outcomes that are generated as a result of the solid and trusted foundations. Those compelling and glossy products and services that people can compare and see if they fit with their checklist of requirements, or the ability to see a holistic view of their physical or financial health. 

Those foundations we build upon – be they bricks or IT infrastructure – are the backbone of it all. They may not be the most interesting part but without them it would be like the straw house in the tale of the three little pigs.

Interested in learning more about how we deliver trusted data sharing ecosystems? Get in touch today!

David Beardmore is Raidiam’s Ecosystems Development Director. He has been a passionate advocate of Open Banking since 2016 and is recognised across the industry.