New HSBC app to let UK customers view all bank accounts on common screen

A new app from HSBC will allow UK customers to view all bank accounts on a with different banks common screen, in a major step towards meeting new EU rules.

The retail lender said today it will introduce the HSBC Beta app from late October onward, which will be initially available to 10,000 HSBC customers.

The beta product will continue to be under development stage, and a full version will be released to the broader UK population in early 2018.

The app, which will be targeted at the "millennial" market, is designed to simplify the process of managing savings.

"Customers now bank at home, on the bus, at work and even in bed, but managing money is still too often a complex and complicated task," Becky Moffat, head of personal banking at HSBC, said in a statement today.

"Through our beta app we want to give our customers a complete and joined-up view of their financial life and make it easier for them to choose confidently, taking the hassle out of checking dozens of statements and manually calculating what's left."

Customers would be able to add current accounts, loans, mortgages and savings with other banks to get a bigger picture about how they were spending their money.

''Lots of people ask us if a big bank like HSBC is relevant in today's competitive fintech landscape. What sets us apart is that we have millions of customers, which provides a unique insight into how we can continue to improve our digital banking offering,'' said head of digital for UK and Ireland Raman Bhatia, adding that it was ''just the starting point'' for new features, the online edition of London-based  business cityam.com reported.

Banks have been working on opening up their data to align with the requirements of Open Banking plans that were outlined by the competition and markets authority (CMA) last year.