Thought Leadership

Open banking and smart data – expert predictions 2025

21 January 2025

This year will be incredibly important for the continued progression of open banking in the UK, following an unprecedented level of growth and delivery in 2024. This has been supported by the ecosystem, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Payments Systems Regulator, and the CMA9, all of whom have enabled the delivery of a public good for UK citizens and businesses.

We ask a range of industry and our own in-house experts to share their views on a range of key developments and areas of focus, for what we believe will be an even stronger 2025.

Hot topics for 2025

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In December 2024 we counted 12.09 million active users of open banking, and a total of 223.9 million payments were made using open banking in 2024 – an increase of 72% compared with 2023 . We expect this steady upward trajectory to continue throughout 2025.

The announcement of the Data (Use and Access) Bill signalled clear intent from the Government about the importance of building on open banking’s data sharing principles to deliver a smart data economy worth an estimated £10 billion over the next 10 years. The Bill will enable the introduction of the Secondary Legislation needed to establish the long term regulatory framework (LTRF) for open banking, putting it on a commercially sustainable footing.

Marion King, OBL Trustee

She continued: “Alongside the National Payments Vision, and the potential it offers to transform the UK’s payments landscape, open banking is in a strong position to support a vibrant fintech sector and economic growth.”

The year ahead for OBL

There’s been excellent progress in delivering the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC) programme, which covers key topics such as consumer protection and financial crime in open banking. There will also be greater clarity on the future entity as we move beyond a competition remedy to playing a key role in delivering a smart data economy.

Again, the JROC work on commercial VRPs has delivered significant progress in this regard, paving the way for market choice and innovation, including A2A payments for e-commerce and key economic sectors such as utilities and regulated financial services. 

We are proud that the mandated approach to open banking in the UK has delivered a blueprint for more than 60 other jurisdictions, and will have a keen eye on interoperability in the coming year, as the industry looks to enable world class cross-border data sharing.”

Henk Van Hulle, OBL CEO