Last checked at 
* Industry to begin rolling out common standard from late2016
* UK treasury looks forward to industry pushing ahead withchanges
* Minister hopes new standard will help Fin-Tech flourish
By Huw Jones
LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - New data-sharing rules could beintroduced in Britain from the end of this year to encourageinnovation and competition in banking, an industry working groupsaid on Tuesday.
A common data-sharing standard would make it easier forcustomers to find the right financial products and for companiesto share information electronically with their accountants, theOpen Banking Working Group's report said.
Banking data - dealing with matters as varied as accounttransactions, mortgage payments and fitness club subscriptions - is currently not easy to share with a third party in a formatthat computers can read for feeding into apps or for use by newbanks getting off the ground.
The group was set up last year at the request of Britain'sfinance ministry to explore how data on accounts transactionscan be safely shared across the sector.
The government wants to increase competition on the highstreet in a sector dominated by just five banks - HSBC,Barclays, Lloyds, RBS and Santander UK.
Britain wants the so-called Fin-Tech sector to flourish bycreating new types of apps and services in banking.
The group said a new entity would plan, design and roll outthe new standard, though it is unclear how it would be funded.
An initial, basic standard would be launched towards the endof this year, with personal customer transaction data includedon a read-only basis at the start of 2018, the group said in astatement. Full customer, business and transactional data wouldbe included by 2019.
Harriett Baldwin, a junior finance minister, said the newstandard would "provide Fin Techs with a globally unrivalledopportunity for innovation in the UK.
"We look forward to continuing to work with industry overthe coming weeks to establish how these recommendations will betaken forward," Baldwin added.
The British Bankers' Association, a trade body, said makingmore bank data openly available would make it easier forcustomers to get the best deals," said Anthony Browne, chiefexecutive of the British Bankers' Association.
"But crucially, no data would be shared without the explicitconsent of the customer and that data will be protected withrobust security checks," Browne said.
The group's work pre-empts changes in European Union lawthat will require banks to allow their customers to receivetheir data over the Internet and share it with third parties.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
