Where’s the Co-operativebank?

Why is the cooperative bank not listed?

Hi @Moz,

unfortunately Co-op doesn’t support any Open Banking connection, so we can’t add support for them. :frowning:

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thanks for replying - I take it this means the app is essentially useless then?

We just don’t support Co-op. :slight_smile:

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I’m also looking to connect to Coop Bank.
They claim to support open banking on this page on their website Open Banking and TPPs | Online banking | The Co-operative Bank

Is there any chance you will integrate with them again?

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Unfortunately, they don’t support Open Banking APIs, only something called “Modified Customer Interface” (known as MCI). MCI connections require you to share your login details with third parties who then login to your bank account “as you” via a special portal to download data.

Emma doesn’t support this type of connection, and many other providers also don’t.

There are a handful of other banks that also use MCI, but the good news is that regulators (including the Financial Conduct Authority) consider MCI to not be in the spirit of Open Banking and are considering changes in the rules to force providers to make real APIs available. If that does happen, Emma and other providers will be able to connect. So watch this space!

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You also need to re-login for each account refresh…

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Not if the app stores the login details (which I think some do)?

Anyway, I know you’ve put on record before that Emma won’t support any kind of screen-scraping due to security concerns and not wanting to require a login infrastructure just for these few providers without an API.

I think that’s fair enough!

Re-login is required with most MCI / scraper interfaces because of 2FA, so storing the password doesn’t solve it.

The good news is that the FCA approach to these very limited interfaces has changed, mostly due to the fact it’s evident that nobody is using them as they are not practical, therefore going against the spirit of the open banking regulations. These banks will have to release at least API-based interfaces at some point next year (probably) so stay tuned the future is bright!

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Heyo,

Does this change anything? It looks like they might support it now?

Not really, they are not using the open banking standard, unfortunately.

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The relevant webpage is actually this one:

They say:

Our approach to meeting PSD2 regulatory compliance is to provide access via modified customer interfaces across our Co-operative Bank Personal, smile and Business Banking brands

This basically means they don’t have, and won’t provide, a proper API so it is not really proper Open Banking support at all.