CMA

CMA confirms full completion of Open Banking Roadmap, unlocking a new era of financial innovation 

09 September 2024
CMA News

Open Banking Limited (OBL) is pleased to announce that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially confirmed the full completion of the final Roadmap for Open Banking.  

This milestone, building on the “substantial completion” announced in 2023, means that all nine banking providers mandated by the CMA under the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order (the CMA Order) have successfully completed the Roadmap and associated required functionality to offer the full suite of open banking payment and account information services.  

Since the announcement of a “substantial completion” of the Roadmap, the final banking providers, Danske Bank, Bank of Ireland, and Allied Irish Bank, have fully delivered all their Roadmap requirements, including variable recurring payments (VRPs) for sweeping. This development brings enhanced financial control, smarter payments, and greater flexibility to all customers across the United Kingdom. 

The delivery of VRP for sweeping functionality opens significant opportunities for fintechs to collaborate with these banking providers, introducing new and innovative financial services to their customers. By leveraging sweeping functionality, third-party providers (TPPs) can help drive the next wave of financial innovation. 

Open banking has transformed the payments and data landscape in the UK, enabling customers and small businesses to leverage their current account information securely with TPPs, who use that data to tailor their products and services to peoples’ specific financial circumstances. It also offers a new, secure way to pay for goods and services. 

2024 has been a year of rapid adoption and strong growth for open banking, with 11.32 million users in July, a 12% uplift from the previous month. In terms of payments, 19.54 million payments were made in July, and of these, VRPs for sweeping accounted for 2.45 million – a growth of 23.9%.  

With an expanding user base, the open banking ecosystem is valued at over £4 billion and is supporting the creation of thousands of skilled digital jobs. This growth firmly positions the UK at the forefront of global financial innovation, highlighting the transformative impact of open banking on the economy. 

The completion of the Roadmap prepares the UK for the next phase of financial innovation as we move beyond the CMA Order. It is also timely, as the Government prepares to introduce the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill. This is expected to build on the achievements of open banking and deliver the benefits of data sharing to smart data schemes in key economic sectors, including energy, telecoms, transport and retail. 

Marion King, Trustee and Chair of OBL, commented: “The CMA’s confirmation of the Roadmap’s full completion is a major achievement for open banking in the UK. I’d like to pay tribute to the banking providers who have successfully implemented the Roadmap, and the ecosystem and wider stakeholders for their hard work and collaboration that allowed us to reach this major milestone in a relatively short period of time.

“Thanks to their efforts, we are now able to move closer to a smart data economy in which we unlock the full potential of open banking for consumers and businesses alike.” 

Henk Van Hulle, CEO of OBL, added: “The rollout of sweeping functionality across all the CMA9 is a crucial step in extending the benefits of open banking to a broader range of customers. As we look ahead, the next exciting chapter will involve exploring the potential of commercial VRPs, which have the capacity to revolutionise the way businesses manage payments.

“We are eager to see how third-party providers will harness this new capability to drive further innovation in the financial sector.” 

Dan Turnbull, Senior Director, CMA, said: “Today’s update is an important milestone. The completion of the Roadmap cements the move to the future of Open Banking, one that can expand the benefits of Open Banking beyond the scope of the CMA’s Order. OBL’s work is vital to the ongoing success of Open Banking. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the FCA, PSR and HM Treasury to help deliver the future arrangements for Open Banking. 

“As we move towards this future, we will continue to ensure the Standard is maintained and that the nine banking providers are held to their ongoing obligations under the CMA’s Order.” 

Media contact: Julia Stewart / Atticus Partners, openbanking@atticuscomms.com  

Notes to editors:  

  • AIB and Bank of Ireland’s delivery plans for VRPs for Sweeping were approved and published by the CMA on 27 June 2023. 
  • Bank of Ireland delivered the functionality in August 2023 and was released from its Managed Roll Out (MRO) process in May 2024. 
  • AIB delivered the functionality in March 2024 and was released from its MRO process in August 2024.
  • Danske Bank delivered the functionality in October 2022 and was released from its MRO process in May 2023. 
  • Other CMA9 banks and building societies exited the sweeping MRO process on the following dates:  
  • NatWest (Mettle): February 2023 
  • Barclays: December 2022 
  • Nationwide: November 2022 
  • NatWest (core brands): September 2022 
  • Santander: August 2022 
  • Lloyds Banking Group: November 2022 
  • HSBC (retail): August 2022 
  • HSBC (business): August 2022 
  • HSBC (First Direct): November 2022 
  • HSBC (Kinetic): December 2022 

About OBL

  1. Open Banking Ltd (OBL) was set up by the CMA9 in October 2016 as required under the Competition & Markets Authority’s (CMA) Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017 to fulfil one of the remedies mandated by the CMA following a market investigation into UK retail banking. 
  1. The CMA’s investigation into the retail banking market (whose findings were published in August 2016) concluded that older and larger banks do not compete hard enough for customers’ business and that open banking should deliver a new, secure option for customers to be able to compare the deal they are getting from their bank. 
  1. OBL’s role is to enforce the obligations on the CMA9 under the CMA Order including: 
  • Monitoring of CMA9’s conformance and performance. 
  • Reasonable promotion of open banking.  
  • Providing Directory and trust services.  
  • Maintaining the Open Banking Standard.  
  • Design the specifications for the Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) that banks and building societies use to securely provide open banking. 
  • Support regulated third party providers and banks and building societies to use the Open Banking Standard. 
  • Create security and messaging standards. 
  • Manage the OBL’s Open Banking Directory which allows regulated participants like banks, building societies and third-party providers to enrol in open banking. 
  • Produce guidelines for participants in the open banking ecosystem.