UK’s 6 Largest Banks Complete Open Banking Roadmap

The UK’s competition authority has announced the near completion of the country’s open banking roadmap.

In a statement released on Thursday (Jan. 12), the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that the six largest banks in the U.K. have successfully delivered the requirements of open banking as laid out by the CMA’s roadmap in 2017.

That means that just three of the so-called CMA-9 — Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland and Danske — have yet to fully implement the roadmap requirements.

In a subsequent press release issued by the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) on Friday (Jan. 13), the organization said that as of December 2022, 7.5 million open banking-powered payments had been made in the country while there are now 6.5 million regular users of open banking technology.

Marking the occasion, OBIE CEO Henk Van Hulle said that over the past five years, open banking has evolved from concept to an everyday tool used by over 6.5 million people. Not only has it helped consumers improve the way they manage, move and make the most of their money, but open banking has also supported increased productivity and cost savings for businesses.

He added, “as we mark this milestone, it is important to note there is still more to do to build on these strong foundations so we can continue to build the best environment for open banking to reach its full potential.”

As the U.K. celebrates five years of open banking, the wider ecosystem is now looking ahead to the next phase of open finance.

In December, the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC), a multi-regulator body made up of the CMA, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Payment Systems Regulator and the Treasury, outlined its vision for the future of open banking in the country and said that it is exploring options to retire the OBIE.

Since its creation in 2016, the OBIE has been responsible for working with banks to roll out open banking application programming interfaces (APIs) and create technical standards.

With implementation complete by six of the CMA-9, the JROC has deemed it necessary to create a more long-term oversight agency that will be responsible for regulating banks and other players in the wider open banking ecosystem.

In a statement on its plans, the JROC said that the new entity should be responsible for supporting open banking innovation and competition, providing and maintaining the technical infrastructure and critical services for open banking, improving existing technical standards and developing new ones.

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