Most Banks Are Getting Open Banking Wrong. Ozone API Has Written the Guide to Fix It

WHY THIS MATTERS: The global proliferation of open banking standards—now in around 60 jurisdictions—presents a paradox: massive regulatory investment with minimal commercial return for most incumbent institutions. This free resource from Ozone API addresses the critical chasm between compliance and profitability, signaling a definitive shift toward Open Finance. Banks must recognize that simply maintaining a regulatory baseline of Foundational APIs is a defensive strategy; true growth lies in monetizing enhanced services. By introducing Premium APIs for value-added features like enhanced data and identity verification, and Distribution Channel APIs for embedding products directly into third-party interfaces, the guide provides a blueprint for generating revenue. For a sector struggling with legacy modernization costs, transforming mandated APIs into a commercialisation engine is the single most urgent task to secure market relevance. This is a call to action for executives to build a deliberate API strategy rather than viewing it as a regulatory afterthought.

Ozone API, the company founded by the authors of the UK open banking standard and that delivers the platform trusted by banks, central banks, and regulators in more than 40 countries, today published Commercialising Open Banking: A Practical Guide — a free resource for banks and financial institutions ready to move beyond compliance and build sustainable commercial models around their APIs. Around 60 jurisdictions have now implemented open banking legislation or regulation.

Yet most banks continue to treat it as a cost centre: no commercial model, no path to revenue, and no real incentive to go further. The guide makes the case that this is not inevitable — and sets out the practical steps to change it.

The guide introduces a three-category framework built on what Ozone API has observed working across global markets:

● Foundational APIs: The regulatory baseline, but also the foundation for customer retention, market positioning, and ecosystem participation.

● Premium APIs: Value-added services — payments, identity verification, enhanced data — that third parties will pay to access.

● Distribution Channel APIs: APIs that let banks embed their products wherever customers need them, turning open banking into a genuine growth channel.

The guide covers all major markets, including the UK (ahead of its open finance expansion), the EU (with PSD3 final texts expected in H1 2026), the United States (where commercialisation is becoming an increasingly important topic whilst section 1033 stalls), Brazil (which now has 35 million active users and processes 2.3 billion successful API communications weekly), and the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.

Huw Davies, Co-Founder and CEO of Ozone API, said: “Open banking is now operating in around 60 jurisdictions. That should be a moment to celebrate. But the honest reality is most banks are still treating it as a compliance project. No commercial model, no revenue, no real incentive to go further. We wrote this guide because we’ve sat with banks, central banks, and regulators across six continents and seen what works. The shift from compliance to commercialisation isn’t complicated. But it does require banks to make a deliberate decision to build a commercial model, not bolt one on as an afterthought.”

The guide also addresses platform requirements, build vs. buy decisions, common pitfalls, realistic timelines, and how to build internal buy-in across technology, product, legal, and executive teams. Commercialising Open Banking: A Practical Guide is available as a free download at https://ozoneapi.com/blog/commercialising-open-banking-a-practical-guide/ 

FF NEWS TAKE: Yes, this absolutely moves the needle by providing a concrete, multi-market roadmap for banks to stop bleeding money on compliance. Ozone’s framework—particularly the emphasis on Distribution Channel APIs—is key, positioning open banking as a genuine growth channel for embedded products. The industry consensus is clearly moving past basic account access toward a sophisticated API economy. We should watch closely for concrete revenue figures from early adopters in markets like Brazil and track how forthcoming regulations, such as the EU’s PSD3, incorporate clear mechanisms for monetizing premium services.