UK's Open Banking Roadmap Unveiled: Future Plans & Priorities

The Joint Regulation Oversight Committee (JROC), a collaboration between the FCA, PSR, HMT, and CMA, has published an Open Banking roadmap for the UK. The report outlines the future plans and priorities for a new phase of Open Banking, aiming to create a resilient, sustainable, efficient, and scalable ecosystem. Since its introduction in 2016, Open Banking has seen significant progress in the UK. However, JROC believes more work is needed in retail banking and beyond. The roadmap, consisting of 29 actions to be delivered over two years, focuses on three main priorities:

1. Building a sustainable and competitive ecosystem
2. Unlocking the potential of Open Banking payments
3. Developing a scalable data-sharing model

The roadmap also emphasizes five key themes for the next two years: leveling up availability and performance, mitigating financial crime risks, enhancing consumer protection, improving TPP and end user information flows, and promoting additional services, such as a non-sweeping VRP pilot. Ciaran O’Malley, VP of Ecommerce at Trustly, comments: “The recommendations published today by the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC) are an extremely positive milestone for Open banking in the UK. They both recognise the dramatic success of Open Banking to date and outline a vision to ensure the continuation of the UK’s global leadership in this area. In order to do this, the JROC has had to balance the need to deliver ‘quick wins’ over the course of the next year, with the need for a fully considered long-term strategy and the necessary regulation that goes alongside this. In terms of support for the development and use of Open Banking products in the short-term, the JROC has addressed several technical issues, including calling for higher performance standards, more accurate error messaging, clarity on payment limits and increased availability for customers. These issues are low hanging fruit and if effectively dealt with, should quickly boost adoption by businesses and consumers alike. In the longer term, the proposal correctly identifies the need for regulators to create a bold, pro-competition Open Banking market, while still allowing the industry to work out a commercial model to fund a replacement entity for the OBIE. The recommendations crucially protect what has been built under the CMA Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017- the over 7 million active users of Open Banking products benefitting from innovative payment and banking solutions – while at the same time facilitating a future outside of the CMA Order. Overall, the JROC has set clear goals that will allow Open Banking to support consumers and businesses with market-leading products over both the short- and the long-term. As the leading Open Banking payments provider in the UK, Trustly is committed to helping the country achieve this goal and reaffirm its position as the global front-runner in Open Banking services.” JROC's recommendations include a three-phased delivery approach:

• 2023: Improving visibility and understanding of Open Banking
• 2024: Laying the groundwork for the end state
• 2025: Establishing a sustainable commercial model and fostering innovative business models

The roadmap also outlines a transition from the current Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) to a future entity, with an interim state and a long-term regulatory framework. The FCA and PSR will serve as regulators for this framework. techUK and its members, who have strengths in Financial Services, Digital ID, and Data Policy programs, are eager to help realize these plans. The publication of the roadmap brings planning certainty and raises questions about interdependencies (digital identity, Smart Data, Open Finance) and implementation timelines.