Impact Report

Open Banking Impact Report – October 2023

19 October 2023

Over 1 in 9 Brits now use open banking services as open banking payments reach record high

  • 9.7m payments made in June 2023, an increase of 88% on the same month in 2022. We have seen further growth since the cut-off point for this report (June 2023), with 10.8m payments made in August 2023.
  • Double the volume of payments in the first six months of 2023 than was seen in the first six months of 2022.
  • The average transaction value of open banking payments is around £450, meaning the total monthly value of open banking payments is around £4.5bn.
  • Over 1 in 9 (11%) British consumers are active users of open banking, and 17% of small businesses.
  • Financial decision-making, payments and borrowing account for 75% of all propositions.

Open Banking Limited (OBL) has today published its latest Open Banking Impact Report, which covers the six months to June 2023. For the first time, enhanced data from Pay.UK shows that the total monthly value of open banking payments is sitting at around £4.5bn – a game changer for how payments are made in the UK.

Adoption of open banking continues at pace, with over 1 in 9 (11%) British consumers becoming active users, up from around 7% in December 2021.

Small businesses continue to lead the way in open banking adoption, with a record high of 17% active users. The rapid rise in adoption is testament to the power of open banking technology to empower innovation, increase productivity, create efficiencies, and reduce costs.

The first six months of 2023 saw double the volume of payments compared with the first six months of 2022. A record 9.7m payments were made in June 2023, an increase of 88% on the same month in 2022.

OBL Chair and Trustee, Marion King, commented: “It is exciting to see the increased adoption of open banking. The latest data shows this has been driven by payments, alongside the emergence of new providers and innovative products which help consumers and SMEs to budget and save in smarter and more effective ways.”

King added: “While significant progress has been made, there is still more to do to optimise the full benefits of open banking within retail banking markets, and beyond. We are working closely with industry, government, and regulators on the next phase of open banking to build on this success and expand the wide range of benefits available to consumers and SMEs.”

Euan Ballantyne, Head of Product, Pay.UK, said: “2022 saw significant growth in the number of open banking transactions processed over the Faster Payments System. The high percentage of growth rates highlight that we can expect ‘Pay by bank’ and variable recurring payments for sweeping to be a significant source of immediate payments as we look ahead to the rest of 2023 and beyond.”

Ballantyne continued: “The JROC review, and our collective desire to create an alternative to card payments, has helped bring Pay.UK and OBL closer together. We look forward to continuing this work to deliver benefits for the wider industry.”

Read the report

For more information, or to organise an interview, please contact Samantha Boyle at Atticus Partners on openbanking@atticuscomms.com

About the June 2023 Impact Report

  • OBL estimates that 11-12% of digitally-enabled consumers and small businesses used open banking during June 2022. This figure has increased from 10-11% in December 2022.
  • A record 9.7m payments were made in June 2023, an increase of 88% on the same month in 2022.
  • There were 3.8m consumers and businesses making an open banking payment in June 2023, suggesting that the average user made 2.6 payments that month.
  • Payments are driving overall usage of open banking, with June 2023 representing the highest penetration ever at 5.9%. Based on existing trends, OBL expects payment penetration to overtake data penetration. 
  • As of June 2023, there were 151 fully regulated firms with live-to-market open banking-enabled products and services.
  • New open banking service providers are increasingly using the services of regulated TPPs, rather than become regulated. This is a dynamic market with companies launching services to test the commercial viability of embryonic propositions – 38 new propositions came to market in the first half of 2023.
  • There are a significant number of services in three areas: financial decision-making, payments and borrowing, which account for 75% of all propositions.
  • Consumer growth is slightly higher than business, but business penetration remains significantly higher at 17% (or 1 in 6,) compared to 11% (or 1 in 9) for consumers. For consumers, payments have become the growth driver in adoption.
  • Since OBL published the last report using data up to December 2022, there has been a 10% growth in retail users and a 5% growth in business users. Looking at growth year on year (June 2023 vs June 2022), the growth is 21% for consumers and 11% for businesses.