Is Open Banking and Vyne safe?

Open Banking has been designed with security at its heart. When payments are made through Vyne, we think it’s important that our customers understand how we protect their money and working closely with industry partners and regulators to ensure this is the case. 

All payments made through Vyne settle into accounts set up and operated by our banking partner, Modulr - although not a bank, they are an authorised e-money institute (AEMI) who are also regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

 

Security

Open Banking uses rigorously tested software and security systems to ensure payment authorisation is safe and secure.

Payments can only ever be authorised by an end-user once they have successfully logged into their online or mobile banking. For added security, this generally requires biometric or multi-factor authentication linked to a verified secondary device.  

Vyne will never request access to an end-user’s bank login details or payment information - this is between the end-user and their bank.  

 

Regulation 

Only apps and websites regulated by the FCA or European equivalent can use Open Banking. Both Vyne and Modulr are regulated by the FCA - this means we are both subject to additional supervision by the regulators and an independent audit to ensure that we comply with our obligations.

Like all AEMI’s, Modulr is required to comply with two important sets of regulation which are the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. It is worth noting that all payment services within the UK are subject to the Payment Services Regulations 2017, meaning there is no material difference between how a payment service like Modulr, or a bank is regulated.

 

Protection 

As a direct participant of the Faster Payments scheme, Modulr holds and settles funds at the Bank of England, providing reliability and security for our customers. As an authorised and regulated AEMI, they’re required to keep 100% of our customers’ money safeguarded at the Bank of England and totally separated from their own funds. This means that funds held in Modulr e-money accounts are protected from any risk in the unlikely event they become insolvent.  

As with all UK companies, Vyne customers and end-users are also protected by data protection laws and the Financial Ombudsman Service. For more information on how we make use of your information/data, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

 

If you have any questions or would like more information on Open Banking or Vyne, please don't hesitate to contact us.