New Unbanx app gives consumers ownership of personal banking data

Irish fintech Unbanx has launched a free app that allows consumers to own, control and earn rewards from their personal banking data, using Open Banking.

Unbanx allows individuals in the UK and Ireland to share their spending history anonymously and securely to earn Unbanx ‘points’, which can be redeemed at several retailers.

Alan McDonald, CEO and co-founder of Unbanx said, that banks have been “quietly selling” the banking data of their customers to the data analytics industry and generating “multi-million dollar profits”. 

“Our research suggests this ‘purchase intelligence’ industry is worth billions of dollars and is only getting started,” he added.

The app works by allowing consumers to securely link their bank accounts via Open Banking, and then sells the aggregated and anonymised data to ethical buyers who want 100% opt-in consumer data.

It returns 70% of the profits from sales back to app users.

“At Unbanx, we believe that a person should be able to benefit from the value of the data created by or about them,” said McDonald.

“Individuals – rather than the corporate giants – should have ownership and control of their personal data.”

Unbanx ‘points’ can be redeemed at its retail partners Nike, Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Deliveroo.

Gerald McDonald, COO and co-founder of Unbanx, revealed that Unbanx intends to release features that will allow consumers to monetise other forms of personal data in the future, enabled by EU and UK legislation.