Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Open Data, Open Banking and Consumer-Driven Banking, and how C1OD delivers them for financial institutions.
Getting Started
Who is Caspian One Open Data (C1OD)?
C1OD help organizations participate in Open Data ecosystems and prepare for the future of Open Banking, including emerging frameworks such as Canada's Consumer-Driven Banking framework and the United States' Personal Financial Data Rights framework.
What is Open Banking?
Open banking lets consumers securely share their bank data, such as balances, transactions, and account details with authorized third parties through APIs. It can be government-led, where regulation requires banks to share consumer-permissioned data, or market-led, where banks and fintechs develop services more voluntarily. In both cases, it gives consumers more control over how their banking data is accessed and used.
What is Open Finance?
Open Finance extends the principles of Open Banking beyond traditional banking data to a broader range of financial products, services and data, such as mortgages, or pensions.
What is Open Data?
Open Data extends beyond financial data, creating opportunities for organizations and sectors to connect, collaborate and develop new products, services and experiences.
How do Open Banking, Open Finance and Open Data compare?
Open Banking is the foundation, Open Finance broadens access across financial services, and Open Data unlocks the secure exchange of permissioned data across sectors, enabling connected ecosystems where organizations can collaborate, innovate and deliver more personalized customer experiences.
What is Consumer-Driven Banking?
Consumer-Driven Banking is Canada's open banking framework for enabling consumers to securely share their financial data with accredited third parties through authorized APIs.
How does Consumer-Driven Banking work?
Consumer-Driven Banking will allow consumers to give permission for accredited third parties to access specified financial data through secure, standardized connections, subject to the applicable rules and controls.
Why does Consumer-Driven Banking/Open Banking matter?
Consumer-Driven Banking or Open Banking gives consumers greater control over their financial data while creating opportunities for competition, innovation and new financial services. It also moves data sharing away from credential-based screen scraping towards more secure, permissioned API-based access, improving security, control and the overall customer experience.
What is Canada's implementation timeline?
The implementation timeline is determined by the federal Consumer-Driven Banking framework and its applicable regulatory requirements. Current dates should be confirmed against the latest official guidance.
Why does Open Data matter?
Open Data gives organizations the ability to securely access and share data across organizational and sector boundaries, creating opportunities for greater collaboration, innovation and new services. It moves beyond simply sharing financial data, enabling organizations to participate in broader ecosystems and connect customers with products, services and information in new ways.
What does C1OD do?
C1OD provides the technology and expertise that enables organizations to participate securely in Open Data ecosystems.
Who does C1OD work with?
C1OD works with a range of organizations, including financial institutions, fintechs and other third parties, which may participate in Open Data ecosystems in different roles. Depending on the ecosystem and use case, an organization may act as a Data Provider, Data Recipient, Service Provider or Service Recipient, or fulfil multiple roles.
Why choose C1OD?
C1OD combines point-to-point technology with deep financial services and Open Data expertise, giving organizations the infrastructure and support to participate in evolving data ecosystems. Unlike black-box aggregator models, our approach provides greater visibility and control across the data-sharing relationship, helping organizations realize value from participation rather than simply meeting the requirements of Open Banking.
Is C1OD just an Open Banking provider?
No. C1OD was established well ahead of Canada's regulatory implementation because we see Open Banking or Consumer-Driven Banking as the first step towards broader Open Data ecosystems. We don't just help organizations meet regulatory requirements, we help them unlock the long-term value of participating in trusted, customer-permissioned data-sharing ecosystems, where data, services and innovation extend far beyond traditional banking and their channels.
How does C1OD help organizations prepare for Consumer-Driven Banking?
C1OD helps organizations understand the requirements, technology and opportunities associated with Consumer-Driven Banking and build the capabilities needed for future participation.
Does C1OD only work with credit unions?
No. While our current focus today is supporting Canadian credit unions and partners, our solutions are designed for a wide range of organizations participating in Open Data ecosystems. This includes banks, fintechs, technology partners and other organizations looking to securely exchange customer-permissioned data.
Does C1OD only work in Canada?
No, C1OD has a strong focus on the Canadian market, but our experience and expertise extend across global Open Banking and Open Data ecosystems. Our FDX platform is interoperable with the U.S. market, and we plan to expand our presence there as the market and opportunities develop.
About Caspian One Open Data (C1OD)
Open Data & APIs
What is an API?
An API, or Application Programming Interface, enables different software systems to communicate and exchange information in a defined and controlled way.
What is FAPI?
FAPI (Financial-grade API) is a security profile developed by the OpenID Foundation that builds on OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect to provide stronger security and interoperability for APIs handling sensitive financial data.
What is FDX?
Financial Data Exchange (FDX) is a North American standards organization that develops standards for secure and interoperable financial data sharing.
What is a Data Access Platform (DAP)?
A Data Access Platform (commonly referred to as aggregators), a term set by the FDX, facilitates secure, permissioned data sharing between Data Providers and Data Recipients through standardized interfaces via APIs.
What is an aggregator and screen scraping?
An aggregator is an organization or service that facilitates access to financial data from one or more Data Providers, while screen scraping typically accesses data using a customer's online banking credentials.
What are Data Providers and Data Recipients?
A Data Provider is an organization that holds financial data and makes it available through an authorized data-sharing process, while a Data Recipient receives that data with the appropriate customer consent, authorization and authentication.
Can a Financial Institution be a Data Recipient?
Yes. A financial institution can act as either a Data Provider or Data Recipient depending on the data-sharing use case and may fulfil multiple roles within an Open Data ecosystem.
What are Service Providers and Service Recipients?
Open Data ecosystems are made up of organizations that fulfil many different roles. While some organizations participate as Data Providers or Data Recipients, others participate by providing or consuming services that enhance the ecosystem.
For example, a technology provider may offer identity, payments, fraud detection or AI services that other participants consume. Likewise, a financial institution may share customer-permissioned data as a Data Provider, consume data as a Data Recipient, use services from other participants to enhance its own products, or provide its own services for others to consume.
This many-to-many model enables organizations to collaborate, extend their reach, deliver new services and create greater value for customers, making Open Data ecosystems far more than simply a mechanism for sharing data.
What are Data Clusters?
Data Clusters are logical groupings of related financial data used by FDX to define and communicate the categories of data being requested or shared.
What are Technical Standards?
Technical Standards are agreed specifications, protocols and requirements that enable secure, interoperable and consistent data sharing between systems and participants.
How does API-based data sharing differ from screen scraping?
API-based data sharing uses secure, defined interfaces and customer permissions to exchange data, while screen scraping typically requires credentials to access and extract information from an online banking interface.
What is consent?
Consent is the explicit permission given by a consumer to allow their financial data to be accessed or shared for a defined purpose.
How is consent managed?
Consent management covers the processes and technology used to capture, monitor, modify and revoke permissions for financial data sharing. Under most Open Banking regulations both the Data Provider and Data Recipient provide a dashboard to help a consumer manage their consent.
Can a customer revoke consent?
Yes. A customer can withdraw a previously granted consent, preventing further access under that consent
What happens when consent expires?
When consent expires, access to the data covered by that consent should no longer continue unless a new or renewed consent is established.
How is customer data protected?
Customer data is protected through controls covering authentication, authorization, security, privacy and the secure transmission and handling of data.
What data can be shared?
The data that can be shared depends on the applicable framework, standards and the customer's permission, with access limited to the data covered by the consent.
What is Data Minimization?
Data Minimization is the principle that only the data necessary for a defined and authorized purpose should be accessed or shared.
What is customer-permissioned data?
Customer-permissioned data is financial information that a customer has explicitly authorized an organization or third party to access or share.
Consent & Data Sharing
Security & Trust
How is customer data secured?
Customer-permissioned data sharing uses security controls such as authentication, authorization, encryption and secure APIs to protect data during access and transmission.
What is OAuth 2.0?
OAuth 2.0 is an authorization framework that enables applications to obtain controlled access to data or services without requiring users to share their passwords with those applications.
What is Multi-factor Authentication?
Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) requires two or more authentication factors.
What is Strong Customer Authentication?
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a method of verifying a user's identity using two or more independent authentication factors from three categories including something the customer has, knows or is, for example a customer might be authenticated with their password (know) and biometrics (is).
What is a Trust Framework?
A Trust Framework, usually a point-to-point connectivity platform which establishes the rules, standards, identities and controls that enable participants in an ecosystem to establish and maintain trust.
How are organizations authenticated?
Once onboarded into a trust framework organizations and applications can be authenticated using mechanisms their trusted identity.
How does Canada compare with other countries such as the UK and US for Open Banking?
Canada is developing its open banking, Consumer Driven Banking Framework, much later than the UK, giving it an opportunity to learn from the successes and challenges of more successful markets. The UK has a mature, regulator-led Open Banking ecosystem, while the US has taken a more market-driven approach but with its own mandated framework on the horizon with Section 1033 and the CFPB's Personal Financial Data Rights framework.
What is Section 1033?
Section 1033 of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act establishes consumers' rights to access information concerning their financial products or services and forms the basis of the CFPB's Personal Financial Data Rights Rule.
What is the CFPB?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a U.S. federal agency responsible for protecting consumers in the financial marketplace, including through rules governing consumer financial data rights.
What role does FDX play?
FDX, awarded the role of Standards Settings Body under the CFPB’s 1033 ruling, and develops and maintains standards intended to support secure, interoperable and consumer-permissioned financial data sharing. It is speculated they will also be the standards set for Canada and are the ones adopted by C1OD.
What is the Bank of Canada's role?
The Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and has responsibilities within the Canadian financial system, but the Consumer-Driven Banking framework is established federally through the Department of Finance and legislation.
Industry & Regulation
AI & The Future of Open Data
What is Agentic AI?
Agentic AI refers to AI systems that can plan, make decisions and perform tasks to achieve defined goals with limited human intervention.
What is Know Your Agent (KYA)?
Know Your Agent (KYA) is the process of establishing trust in an AI agent by verifying its identity, authority and permissions before allowing it to access data or perform actions.
How will AI agents use financial data?
AI agents could execute permissioned tasks and use permissioned financial data to provide personalized insights, make recommendations and perform authorized tasks on behalf of consumers or organizations.
How does Open Data support AI?
Open Data can provide AI systems with access to trusted, permissioned and structured information, supporting more useful and context-aware services. As AI evolves towards agentic models, trusted Open Data infrastructure and identity frameworks can provide the foundations for agents to securely access data, establish trust and act on behalf of users and organizations.
What does the future of Open Data look like?
Open Data is likely to evolve beyond basic data sharing towards interconnected ecosystems in which organizations, services and AI agents can securely exchange data and act on behalf of users.
Have more questions?
Get in touch with C1OD and our team will be happy to help.