The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its vision for open finance, outlining how consumers and businesses could gain greater control over their financial data to access better products and services.
Open finance aims to enable individuals and businesses to securely share their financial data with a wider range of providers. This could support access to key financial products such as mortgages, investments, savings and pensions, while giving firms a more complete picture of customers’ financial positions.
The FCA believes this will lead to more personalised and inclusive services, more competitive pricing, and improved fraud protection.
Supporting SMEs and consumers
As part of its plans, the FCA will prioritise exploring how open finance can support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly by improving access to credit and speeding up loan applications.
The regulator will also examine how open finance can help consumers better manage their finances and improve access to mortgages.
Driving innovation and competition
David Geale, Executive Director for Payments and Digital Finance at the FCA, said:
“Open finance has the potential to transform how people interact with financial services. By giving consumers and businesses more control over their own financial data, we can help them access credit, secure better deals and receive more customised support – while fuelling innovation, competition and supporting economic growth.”
The FCA will work closely with industry, consumer groups and other regulators throughout 2026 to develop practical use cases for open finance. This will be carried out through initiatives including the Smart Data Accelerator and the PRISM (Prioritisation and Real-world Insights Selection Matrix) Taskforce.
Adam Jackson, Chief Strategy Officer at Innovate Finance, added:
“Just as open banking has sparked the growth of many UK fintechs, so open finance can power a new wave of innovation. By unlocking high-quality data in a way that secures consumer trust, open finance can be a foundation for widespread adoption of agentic AI.”
Next steps
The FCA will work with HM Treasury to consider options for a regulatory framework for open finance by the end of 2027.
In the meantime, firms may be able to introduce open finance products earlier where they already have access to data and the appropriate permissions are in place.
