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Open banking is fast becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

Open Banking first went live in 2018 in the UK as a means of allowing secure access to and control of consumer banking and financial accounts through third-party service applications. This new approach has the potential to reshape the competitive landscape and consumer experience in the banking industry. 

In 2018, the adoption of the revised payment services directive, PSD2, set the stage for Open Banking across Europe. PSD2’s Open Banking mandate, which came into force in September 2019, provides open access to customer payment accounts and bank infrastructure. From a legal perspective, PSD2’s framework enables Open Banking by permitting bank clients and businesses to use third-party service providers to manage their finances. 

In practice, Open Banking in Europe uses Open API technology to enable third-party service providers and banks to build new customer centric financial applications and services. At the same time, bank clients have made their smartphones the centerpiece of modern living and digital banking, which challenges European banks to focus on improving the bank client’s digital experience. 

Three years post UK go-live in early 2018, and 18 months after the Open Banking provisions of PSD2, Open Banking is playing a significant role in stimulating innovation in financial services, implementing immediate payment services, and launching digital payment service schemes enabling payments directly from bank accounts. 

Across the continent, European countries are now home to either regulatory-driven or industry-led open banking initiatives and new digital payment service schemes which extend digital banking services to merchants and P2P money transfers. 

However, European countries have each forged their own path to the implementation of Open Banking. This report compares selected European markets in terms of their regulatory readiness adopting the PSD2, their Open API readiness, the digital infrastructure readiness, and notable Open Banking innovation. 

Objective of the Report

The objective of this report is to provide an Open Banking readiness status for ten selected European countries in March 2021. Our report:

• describes common elements between these different approaches at a country level 
• highlights the differences between Open Banking implementations at a country level 
• identifies the more advanced regulatory regimes with regard to Open Banking
• assesses Open Banking readiness at a country level 
• outlines notable account-to-account (A2A) payment service scheme initiatives at a country level 

Each of the brief country reports below provides insight into that country’s individual Open Banking characteristics, the status of digital A2A payment schemes, and the country’s Open Banking readiness in March 2021, including: 

• overview characteristics 
• digital banking Infrastructure readiness 
• notable Open Banking details in the country 
• open Banking Readiness Index position 
• selected case studies regarding successful digital payment service scheme initiatives 

In particular, the report provides insight into the different individual approaches taken by ten European countries: 

• The UK – a post-Brexit strategy to build a world-leading digital Open Banking ecosystem 
• France, Italy, Spain – Open Banking as vehicle for digital transformation of domestic payment ecosystems 
• Germany – a collaborative German-specific approach to the development of Open Banking 
• Denmark, Norway, Sweden – the Nordic collaborative model moves into Open Banking 
• Poland, Hungary – Open Banking as a vehicle for leapfrogging away from legacy banking infrastructures