From experiment to utility
Open Banking Limited reported 16.5 million user connections in December 2025, up 36% over the year. Its 2026 metrics show billions of successful API calls and high availability. The system is becoming a routine layer beneath budgeting, lending, account aggregation and payments. Maturity changes the standard. Users should not need to know what an API is. They should see clear consent, a service that works and an obvious route to disconnect access.
Payments are the competitive edge
Account-to-account payments can give merchants an alternative to card rails and enable faster, data-rich transactions. The proposition depends on reliable consumer protection, refunds and confirmation experiences; a lower fee alone will not overcome uncertainty. Fintech companies can build services around cash-flow understanding rather than merely displaying transactions. Useful categorisation, forecasts and automated saving can turn data access into a financial outcome.
Smart Data broadens the idea
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 provides a framework for Smart Data schemes. A customer could authorise a trusted service to access standardised information and act on it in energy, telecoms or other markets. Banking benefited from common standards and focused implementation. Replicating the model requires clarity about liability, data quality and incentives. Britain’s advantage is operational experience; expansion will succeed only if it preserves disciplined security and consent.
UK TECH TRENDIndependent analysis for the British technology market.
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