Open banking regulations were designed to promote innovation in banking services by opening the sector to new entrants and providing third parties with access to banks’ customer data and functionalities. However, the European banking sector is struggling in its transition toward open banking models. In Asia, where the open banking concept emerged later, the banking sector is nonetheless experiencing significant transformation thanks to greater intensity and a faster pace of innovation.
In Europe (including the UK and EU member states), it is mandatory for banks to open their data to third-party providers when customers elect it. In Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, regulators have adopted a liberal approach, leaving the field relatively free for open banking initiatives to connect different actors, such as financial institutions, big techs, developers, fintechs, and firms belonging to non-financial sectors.
