Open banking and account information data

Open banking lets consumers share their account data with permission, transforming affordability and finance. This guide covers open-banking and account-information data.

What open banking is

Open banking, enabled by PSD2 and successors, lets consumers and businesses share their account and transaction data with authorised third parties, by consent, through secure APIs.

Why it matters

Consented account data gives a direct, accurate view of income, spending and obligations, transforming affordability assessment, lending, accounting and personal finance.

Consent is the foundation

Open banking is built on explicit, revocable consent, and access is regulated. Data can only be used within the consent and purpose granted, the consent framework is the contract.

Common use cases

Affordability and lending, account aggregation and PFM, accounting and reconciliation, and verification.

Sourcing considerations

Access requires appropriate authorisation and adherence to the open-banking framework. Provenance, consent scope and the GDPR govern use, and data must not be used beyond the consented purpose.

In a managed model

A managed partner can structure consented, compliant access to account data within the open-banking framework.

Consent is the contract

Open banking shares account and transaction data by explicit, revocable consent through secure APIs under PSD2 and successors, giving a direct, accurate view of income and spending. Data can only be used within the consented purpose, so the consent framework is effectively the contract.

Regulated access

Access requires appropriate authorisation and adherence to the open-banking framework, and the GDPR governs use, so provenance and consent scope must be respected for affordability, lending and finance uses.

Sources & further reading

• EUR-Lex: PSD2 and open-banking framework.
• EBA: open-banking technical standards.
• EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR).
• National open-banking implementations.