What if the best real-world example of data portability is hiding in plain sight inside your bank account?

In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore why open banking has become one of the clearest success stories in moving data from one platform to another. Starting with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, we look at how regulators, markets, and common technical standards helped create a system where consumers can more easily access and share their financial data.

We examine what open banking actually is, how it works through standardized APIs, and why it succeeded in places like the UK, Europe, and Brazil. We also explore the role of competition, trust, consent, and regulation, and why banking may have opened up faster than many other industries.

From there, we turn to the future. As AI agents become more capable of acting on our behalf, financial services may need to serve not just people, but AI systems that shop rates, move money, and make decisions for us. That raises deeper questions about digital identity, who should control financial data, and what kinds of trust infrastructure will be needed if AI is going to play a real role in finance.

Guests

• Eyal Sivan — General Manager, North America, Ozone API; board member, Financial Data Exchange
• Chris Skinner — Author, commentator, founder of The Finanser; author of Intelligent Bank
• David G.W. Birch — Author, advisor, and commentator on digital money and identity; author of Identity Is the New Money

The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereignty and user ownership, where individuals, not corporations, govern their own data and share the value it creates. Learn more at Vana.org.