Moneyhub CEO Samantha Seaton has joined the Financial Data and Technology Association’s (FDATA’s) Global Board as a Non-Executive Director (NED).
As FDATA continues to expand its international reach, the global organisation is completing an initiative to modernise its governance framework; the appointment of four new NEDs is part of this process. Each jurisdiction of operation has appointed a NED from amongst its membership, proposed and selected by the Regional Members Council and Region Director. Samantha will represent the UK and Europe, with Dominique Samson, Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Flinks, representing North America, and two further NEDs representing Australasia and Latin America to be announced shortly.
Samantha will bring her extensive knowledge and experience in introducing Open Finance to the UK to support other nations globally with similar ambitions to the NED role, as well as helping to push the dial further in the UK as we move to an Open Data economy.
 
Samantha is one of the staunchest defenders of customer ownership of their financial data and one of the loudest advocates for consumer empowerment. Never has this been more important as we move beyond Open Finance toward Open Data. This passion is what drives her into an array of game-changing industry roles: she is one of the ten industry representatives on the Money and Pensions Service’s (MaPS’s) Pensions Dashboard Programme PDP) steering group, and is also on the steering committee for The Investing and Saving Alliance’s (TISA’s) Open Savings, Investment and Pensions programme (OSIP). These perfectly complement her appointment to the FDATA Global Board.
 
Moneyhub has a long history with FDATA and we’re all delighted to cement this partnership further with Sam’s appointment. Dave Tonge, CTO of Moneyhub, was the first Chair of the FDATA Technology Group. He was also the lead technical representative within the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) PSD2 Stakeholder Group and worked with the Open Banking Implementation Entity to define the standard for UK Banking APIs.

Richard Prior, CEO, FDATA: "As FDATA continues to expand internationally and mature as a members organisation, it is appropriate and essential that the global membership be directly represented and engaged at this level. As well as enhancing transparency around governance, FDATA will greatly benefit from the significant domain expertise brought to this forum by the NED's as FDATA continues to evolve, advocating for a burgeoning, diverse membership; a healthy, ethical and inclusive ecosystem; and the good of the end customer, in its mission to enable delivery of the open data economy. Samantha brings not only extensive expertise from her time at Moneyhub, but from all her directorships and roles focused on bringing Open Data to the fore. She is a passionate advocate for the consumer, and this combined with her deep knowledge makes her well-placed to sit on the board."

Samantha Seaton, CEO of Moneyhub comments: “FDATA and Moneyhub have a long history together and I’m pleased to be able to offer my expertise to the board going forward and support FDATA in its next phase of growth."

"The opportunity for Open Finance to benefit both the consumer and industry is immense but it is only with the hard work of organisations such as FDATA that we can unlock the full potential. There are key initiatives such as variable recurring payments (VRP) that are in-flight now, and looking beyond that, we can see many more opportunities as the Open Data economy grows, both in the UK and internationally."