Yaspa CTO Toby Sucharov comments in relation to yesterday’s UKGC announcement on Financial Risk Assessments. “The Commission’s decision to introduce Financial Risk Assessments in stages is a significant moment for the UK gambling sector. The original ambition was always to protect vulnerable consumers without disrupting the majority of players, and today’s announcement shows that the industry is now moving from debate into implementation.
“The crucial question is whether the data being used is good enough to support that ambition. Credit reference agency data has clear advantages because it can be frictionless, but it is also limited. It can show missed payments, defaults or debt management plans, but those are often signs that financial harm has already happened. It is more of a rear-view mirror than a windscreen.
“To protect consumers sustainably, operators could benefit from more direct insights into a customer’s real financial position. That is where open banking has an important role to play, particularly for the small proportion of customers who cannot be assessed cleanly through credit reference data alone. Real-time bank transaction data can provide a clearer view of income, disposable income and gambling activity.
“The key challenge that led to using credit reference agencies was the friction around gaining customer consent. Traditional affordability checks have struggled because they ask customers to complete a separate task, often through an email or on-site message that is disconnected from what the customer is trying to do. Consumers do not complete operator tasks – they complete their own tasks.
“Our view is that the check has to be tied to the customer journey, particularly the deposit journey. If a customer is already choosing to add funds, a clear and proportionate prompt can make the process feel intuitive rather than intrusive. We have seen real-time deposit-integrated checks converting at 70%, versus a typical rate of 12% for traditional affordability checks. That’s a material distinction, and enables the industry to deliver meaningful financial risk assessments while preserving the frictionless experience the Commission, operators and customers all want.”
