Background to Open Banking

In 2016, The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a report on the UK’s retail banking market which found that older, larger banks do not have to compete hard enough for customers’ business, and smaller and newer banks find it difficult to grow and access the market.

To tackle this, they proposed a number of remedies including Open Banking, which enables customers and small and medium-sized businesses to share their current account information securely with other third party providers from January 2018.

Find out what Open Banking means for customers

What is the Open Banking Implementation Entity?

The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is the company set up by the CMA in 2016 to deliver Open Banking. Our trading name is Open Banking Limited.

We are governed by the CMA and funded by the UK’s nine largest banks and building societies: Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS Group and Santander.

What does the Open Banking Implementation Entity do?

We work with the UK’s largest banks and building societies as well as challenger banks, financial technology companies, third party providers and consumer groups.

Our role is to:

• Design the specifications for the Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) that banks and building societies use to securely provide Open Banking
• Support regulated third party providers and banks and building societies to use the Open Banking standards
• Create security and messaging standards
• Manage the Open Banking Directory which allows regulated participants like banks, building societies and third party providers to enrol in Open Banking
• Produce guidelines for participants in the Open Banking ecosystem
• Set out the process for managing disputes and complaints

Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2)

The second Payment Services Directive is a new piece of European legislation which comes into force on 13 January 2018. It enables regulated third party providers, with a customer’s consent, to access a customer’s bank account information and/or request payments.

It aims to attract new providers and technology companies to enter the market and create more innovative services for customers.