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2. Introduction

Customers will use Open Banking enabled products and services if:

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The Customer Experience Guidelines have been developed with the following key considerations:

1. The user/customer’s experience and the interplay between Third Party Platforms, including but not restricted to Account Information Service Providers (AISP) and Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISP), and Account Service Payment Service Providers (ASPSP) is as seamless as is possible;

2. Information is presented in an intuitive manner that is easy to comprehend and allows them to make informed decisions; and

3. Sufficient measures are taken to gain customer trust through a secure consent model.

The Customer Experience Guidelines serve as an enabler to provide customers with a seamless experience. The Customer Experience Guidelines have been designed in consultation with the industry to facilitate standardized sharing of data mandated by the Open Banking Rulebook published by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) in a simple and secure manner. In order to explicitly define customer journey and experience, the CBB has drafted the Customer Experience Guidelines in consultation with the industry. The Guidelines  The Guidelines form a part of the Open Banking Implementation Requirements, requirements and set out the customer experience required to deliver a successful Open Banking ecosystemEcosystem, alongside technical, performance , non-functional requirements and dispute resolution practices. The Guidelines must be read in conjunction with the existing regulations in Bahrain.

3. Customer Experience Principles

The CBB has laid emphasis on a number of This section lays out several design and experience principles while developing the Guidelines. This section lays out certain standards that form the foundation to for customer experience in Open Banking Implementation.   The Open Banking customer experience should ensure informed decision making while remaining understandable, intuitive and effective . The customer experience should be shaped and positioned into content and functionality that clearly communicates and facilitates purpose, intent and relevance.A series of guiding principles are outlined here that can be, through careful design, baked into a process or transaction, and dialled up and down where certain interactions become more critical.for the user/customer.

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1. Ownership and Control

For Open Banking, control comes from sense of ownership can be achieved by providing the right tools and clarity of information at the right time to the customer (e.g. knowing the account balance at the point of payment, or knowing that they can view and revoke consents given when they feel it is appropriate to do so). AISPs, PISPs and ASPSPs should consider how they provide this sense of ownership and specific optionality control throughout - enabling the customers to feel that this is a process they are both choosing and in charge of.

2. Speed and Clarity

Speed should be appropriate to the customer and the journey they are undertaking. Convenient, speedy and intuitive design is a question of execution and interaction. Managing and optimising each interaction with speed, clarity and efficiency, but without sacrificing the principles of security and controlownership, is of utmost importance .The user journey should support informed decision making through comprehension and clarity, allowing customers to, above all, move at a pace that suits themto ensure adoption. AISPs, PISPs and ASPSPs need to ensure that customer journeys remain flexible enough to support different customer contexts, expectations and situations and – critically - avoid any unnecessary friction in the completion of any journey.

3. Security

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and Assurance

In the context of security, the key concerns for customers are fraud and data privacy. AISPs, PISPs and ASPSPs should make sure essential security measures are in place throughout the user journey. As a new service, In addition to personal data, transactional (data) security is the critical factor to ensure adoption of Open Banking services. As a minimum, AISPs, PISPs and ASPSPs must ensure that all security messaging should be clear and reassuring in tone, but not alarmist.

4.

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Transparency and Trust

It is therefore critical to establish and reinforce trustworthiness - trust in the service provider, trust in the transactional process and trust in the role and relationship with their ASPSPs., especially in a payment context where traditional, deeply established alternatives remain available. The principles of controlownership, speed and clarity, transparency and security combine to create a trusted environment for the customer. AISPs, PISPs and ASPSPs should consider and promote values of trust through every part of their Open Banking customer journeys, to foster understanding, acceptance and adoption of new innovative products and services.

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At the core of all Open Banking customer journeys, is the mechanism by which the customer gives consent to an AISP/PISP to access account information held at their ASPSPs or to initiate payments from their ASPSP account.

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The user journey begins with the pre-consent flow, in which the customer chooses the product/service they would like to avail of. Subsequently, the consent request is initiated in the AISP/PISP domain. The user is then directed to the domain of its ASPSPs for authentication and authorisation. The ASPSP then responds to the AISP’s account information or PISP’s payment initiation request and redirects the customer back to the AISP/PISP for confirmation and completion of the journey.

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The user journey can thus be divided into the following components:

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