Nationwide is partnering with OpenWrks, a UK based provider of open banking applications, to help members facing financial difficulty.
OpenWrks, using Open Banking technology, helps people in financial difficulty quickly pull together information from different accounts and sources to easily built an accurate digital income and expenditure statement.
Their solution uses conversational artificial intelligence and reductive logic, allowing people to easily create accurate and realistic income and expenditure statements online in just minutes, reducing the time advisors spend collating data and increasing the amount of time spent giving valuable advice.
Nationwide members in financial hardship are able to benefit from the technology, which enables them to digitally build a picture of their financial circumstances with ease, prior to having a meaningful conversation with one of Nationwide’s Collections and Recoveries team. This can lead to a reduction in the time it takes for a member to get to the right outcome and reduces the potential worry and stress.
As well as supporting Nationwide’s members, OpenWrks is also working with expert advisors at the Money and Pensions Service to visualise customers’ income and expenditure data – leading to more personalised and relevant advice.
This comes as OpenWrks is part of Nationwide’s Open Banking for Good challenge, a £3 million fund that was designed to challenge fintechs and organisations to work together to help improve the lives of those in financial difficulty using Open Banking technology.
Claire Tracey, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer: “As a mutual, we believe in the power of partnership and that we can achieve more together than we can alone. Going live is the culmination of nearly 18 months’ collaboration between Nationwide and OpenWrks. Our agile approach and innovative thinking have helped us make a complicated process simple for members in difficult circumstances, all while supporting our colleagues who help them.”
Steve Bradford, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of OpenWrks: “Our partnership with Nationwide extends back to their Open Banking for Good programme where we focused on how to help customers better understand their finances at a time when they are in financial difficulty. Our primary consideration has been to ensure that members interests come first, resulting in a digital customer experience that enables them to work out what they can afford before speaking to an advisor. The combined knowledge and experience of both teams has resulted in a journey that removes some of the stress from the situation and helps members feel more comfortable throughout the process.”
