The latest update from the FCA for you;
Consumers and businesses could be given greater control over their financial data to help secure better deals, under a vision for open finance published today by the FCA.
Open finance will unlock the potential for people and businesses to share their financial data securely with a range of financial services providers, helping them access mortgages, investments, savings and pensions. This will give financial services firms a more complete picture of consumers’ and businesses’ finances, enabling more personalised and inclusive services, alongside more competitive pricing and stronger fraud protection.
The FCA will prioritise exploring how open finance can help SMEs improve access to credit and speed up loan applications. It will also examine how open finance can help consumers manage and improve access to mortgages.
David Geale, executive director of 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.”
To progress plans as quickly as possible, the FCA will engage with industry, consumer groups and fellow regulators this year to develop a range of practical open finance use cases. This will be done through the FCA’s Smart Data Accelerator and PRISM (Prioritisation and Real-world Insights Selection Matrix) Taskforce.
Adam Jackson, chief strategy officer at Innovate Finance, said:
“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. We support collaboration between industry and the FCA to deliver the roadmap at pace, enabling agreement on priority use cases and datasets, and appropriate regulatory action to open these up to competition and innovation.”
The FCA will work with HM Treasury on options for a regulatory framework for open finance by the end of 2027. Firms will be supported to introduce open finance products sooner where they are already able to access data and appropriate permissions are in place.
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Damien Burke, Head of Regulatory Practice at leading independent banking and credit advisory consultancy Broadstone, commented:
“Open finance has the potential to transform how consumers access financial services and it is energising to see the FCA accelerating these plans. Leveraging this technology can create a market that enables institutions to have a clearer view of the consumers they support and drive economic growth via further innovation in the UK’s dynamic financial services sector.
“By enabling lenders to access a more complete, real-time view of a borrower’s financial position – including income patterns, spending behaviour and existing liabilities – affordability assessments can become far more accurate.
“This should help move the market away from blunt, one-size-fits-all criteria towards more tailored lending decisions that reflect how people actually earn and manage money today, particularly those with non-traditional or variable incomes.
“For consumers, this could translate into more realistic borrowing limits and better-matched products, reducing the risk of both overextension and unnecessary rejection. It also creates an opportunity for lenders to design more flexible solutions – whether that’s adjusting repayment structures, offering Variable Recurring Payments, offering more responsive payment stress testing or identifying earlier interventions for those at risk of financial strain.
“The success of open finance in the mortgage market will depend on how effectively lenders embed these insights into underwriting processes while maintaining robust risk controls. If implemented well, it could support a more inclusive lending environment that balances innovation with responsible affordability.”
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