Events

SMART DATA FORUM KEYNOTE: Spotlight on the Open Banking Roadmap

15 June 2026

Open Banking is driving the UK’s smart data economy by enabling secure, standardised data sharing across financial services. In this Smart Data Forum 2026 keynote, Henk Van Hulle, CEO of Open Banking Limited, outlines key lessons from open banking, including mandated participation, common standards, and sustainable commercial models. The speech explores the economic impact of open banking and how expanding smart data, interoperability, API standards, and cross-sector data sharing can unlock further innovation, competition, and growth in the UK economy. 

I’m Henk Van Hulle, CEO of Open Banking Limited. Thank you to the Smart Data Forum for having me.  

The entity that has, for the last 8 years, built and maintained the first Open Banking Standard trust framework, and perhaps most importantly, we enable innovation through a flourishing ecosystem that we sit at the heart of. 

Open Banking was the first Smart Data scheme. Truly trailblazing 8 years ago. 

William Blake said: “What is now proved, was once only imagined”. 

And don’t think that we could have imagined the impact we’ve had on financial services. 

Our collective success in Open Banking is down to the willingness and adaptiveness of our entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Supported by the pioneering of proportionate, responsible and enabling regulation… 

These things have got us where we are today. 

And looking around the room seeing smart data advocates emerge from different sectors. 

I’m hopeful for the future.  

I know I don’t need to do the ‘hard sell’ with any of you. You’re here because you understand the value of data sharing.  

We believe that at full adoption Open Banking could contribute £43bn of annual value in the UK. More on that later. 

Just as Open Banking was pioneering 8 years ago, so too, are your efforts in your respective sectors. 

But take notes from us. We could quite literally “write the book” on lessons learned in Open Banking.  

What worked, what didn’t.  

And what needs to change to suit today’s times. 

And I want to touch on a couple of areas where we’ve had success, but we also acknowledge they’re in need of continued focus as we move forward. 

I, for one, strongly believe in a level of mandated participation.  

Realistically, here will be data holders in any sector who say 

 “I’m quite happy with the status quo, thanks very much”  

“I know everything about my customers, and I’ll lose my competitive edge if I share” 

Or “it’s just too costly to upgrade my tech. It’s not my priority.” 

To that I say, we’ve heard it all before.  

And those voices don’t represent the majority, at least today, who see the opportunities in facing forward, rather than protecting the past. 

I fully appreciate that we need to be balanced and proportionate in our approach.  

But it is a simple reality that there needs to be a level of ‘mandation’.  

This is not mandation for the sake of it, but as a real, practical enabler of innovation.  

Creating something new, something better. 

Markets and products that wouldn’t otherwise exist. 

Helping consumers and businesses that would otherwise be left to themselves. 

It enables the application of consistent standards, which provides a ubiquitous way for innovative firms to receive data.  

So why is this important? 

Because engaging in a disparate way with data holders is burdensome, while consistent, mandated standards are a key ingredient in the viability of smart data business models.  

But we also have learnings when it comes to the business of Open Banking.  

A fair and holistic funding model one that creates value for all parties.  

Will be critical to long term, sustainable, commercial success.   

We have also seen the importance of schemes.  

Scheme rules operationalise smart data beyond the technical standards, bringing use cases fully to life.  

Building a competitive experience and defining accountability if things go wrong.  

Good schemes and standards are foundational to trust in the system. 

The launch of UKPI, the scheme for commercial variable recurring payments, provides the first model of this in the commercial open banking space.  

And of how enabling entities like OBL can act as the standard setter for schemes like this, as well as individual firms.  

Providing a core centre of expertise and knowledge, and a trusted framework to build on.  

With schemes that then drive forward new innovations. 

This is the end state we see for Open Banking, 

Holistic participation,  

Greater commercial opportunity,  

And dynamic schemes.  

UKPI is the first such scheme. OBL facilitated its incubation, industry set it up, and 23 firms and counting now own shares in UKPI. 

In other sectors, you have the benefit of building this in from the outset.  

I am pleased that work is underway with industry in the driving seat to take Open Banking to the next phase that will consider vital principles such as these. 

Supported by a new regulatory regime.  

One that will take us beyond the CMA Order. 

One that recognises what we’ve got right and what aspects we can change for the better. 

Things need to change and evolve.  

Because open banking regulation 8 years ago was a moment in time.  

It was a solution to a problem. 

Even so, it is already embedded in everyday products and services that couldn’t have been imagined. It’s driving better outcomes. And it’s crucially driving economic growth. 

Earlier this year, we published economic analysis carried out by EY on the impact of Open Banking here in the UK.  

It looks at value creation to date, where we’ll end up in five years’ time based both on current adoption and then on full-scale adoption. 

It found that Open Banking has already delivered an estimated £8.3bn1 in cumulative benefit to date. 

That’s based merely on current levels of adoption: over 18 million user connections2 a month.  

Our industry is generating genuine economic growth, here and now.  

And the analysis also looks five years ahead, and that’s where it gets really interesting.  

Annual economic benefits could reach £7.4bn3 a year as adoption continues to scale.  

And that’s only if we continue growing organically, on the same trajectory. 

But, at full maturity and adoption, the long-term annual opportunity across the economy could be significantly larger up to £43bn per year.  

That is a huge prize. 

You can find the detailed report and figures on our website, and we understand that more and more participants are using these as input to their individual business cases. 

But how we reach these figures is important.  

The next stage, our ecosystem is embarking on will be critical in us moving from merely a projection on a page and into real-life.  

But I also want to highlight something else. 

That, in reality, Open Banking is merely the safe and consented sharing of current account data. 

Current account data. That’s it.  

And yet look at the impact it’s having. 

If we combine the sharing of this very specific data set with data sets from other areas of life such as your savings and investments, your mortgage, your energy usage, your property data. 

It’s not hard to see the cumulative impact. 

The innovative products and tools would come forward to make all our lives easier. 

So, embrace the power of data in your sectors. 

Because in a world where multiple data sets and consent pathways will be ported across, true interoperability will come through shared infrastructure and rules. 

Interoperability, so that schemes in different sectors may speak different languages… but when they come together, they still translate. 

This requires a collaborative effort we want to instil a mindset that when we work together, we make progress, and we can go faster.  

And the world has been watching us closely.  

Some, taking a similar path. Others, doing it their own way.  

To varying degrees of success, I might say. 

But here in the UK, we have an advantage. Government, regulators and industry all see the huge potential of smart data and share a joint commitment to delivering it.  

We all know that does not happen every day.  

So: the opportunity to make a difference is here and now.  

A golden prize of a smart data economy is there for the taking. But getting there isn’t a given. 

It requires a concerted effort.  

It depends on us having shared rules, shared ambition, and a shared commitment to move at pace. 

Thank you and enjoy the journey! 

Location: Smart Data Forum, London 

Delivered on 15 June 2026 (original script may differ from delivered version.) 

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