Open Banking is driving the “largest disruptors” in the virtual banking market, BaaS
(Banking-as-a-Service) and embedded finance, by serving as an “enabler for delivery of these concepts,” according to a report from Juniper Research.
As noted in a whitepaper, shared by Juniper Research:
“While the idea of Open Banking may not be entirely new, its rise to prominence has been mostly fueled by adoption of PSD2 and big tech initiatives in recent years. This has helped shape interaction patterns between traditional and emerging actors in the marketplace. As such, Open Banking is a game changer for business model innovation in the face of customer demands for seamless and ubiquitous financial products and services.”
The Juniper Research team points out that the total value of international payment transactions supported by Open Banking will surpass $116 billion in 2026, from “just under $4 billion in 2021.”
This dramatic growth rate of more than 2,800% over the next 5 years will be led by greater user awareness of Open Banking features, “supported by greater deployment within Europe, as vendors build on PSD2 (Second Payment Services Directive) APIs to deliver expanding services.”
Open Banking-facilitated payments, where payments are “made directly from bank
accounts,” are now considered a threat to the “dominance of cards within eCommerce,” the paper from Juniper revealed.
Card payments are fairly well established, “leveraging permissioned access to bank accounts can reduce fraud risks due to strict KYC (Know Your Customer) rules,” the report added while noting that payment providers should team up with Open Banking API providers now to “reduce risks of disintermediation.”
As noted in the update, Europe will account for more than 75% of Open Banking payments users internationally in 2026; “demonstrating the head start that PSD2 has given this market.”
But API vendors need to look beyond regulatory minimum requirements to “develop
advanced use cases such as aggregation of additional products, including loans,
credit cards and mortgages, as awareness builds,” the paper suggested.
The Juniper Research update added that recent governmental support within the US will “stimulate the growth of Open Banking, and the market will require payments players to develop new capabilities quickly to capitalize.”
As such, acquisitions and partnerships are expected to intensify, so vendors are able to meet these changing requirements, instead of developing their own solutions over time.
