What is Open Finance?
Lead — Open Finance, as delineated in a recent commentary by Nordea, signifies a pivotal shift in financial ecosystems, expanding beyond Open Banking to include a comprehensive range of financial services that allow consumers greater control and access to their data. This framework enables customers to utilize applications covering investing, pensions, and more, effectively democratizing data management. Notably, while the foundational regulations are still in development, the European Commission proposed legislation in June 2023 to support its implementation. Such changes are poised to impact financial decision-making and customer engagement across sectors, suggesting significant attention from market participants will be warranted as these systems evolve.
What the desk is arguing
The transition from Open Banking to Open Finance is not just incremental but transformative, as it broadens access to personal financial data across diverse platforms. Per the full note by Nordea, this encompasses more than just payment services, extending to investments, savings, and insurance. With APIs at the core of this technology, the potential for real-time data sharing stands to enhance user experience and choice significantly.
The emphasis on user control over financial data and the wide-ranging implications for service offerings denote a paradigm shift that could redefine customer-bank relationships. This is underscored by the proposal put forth by the European Commission on June 28, 2023, marking a legislative step towards the framework of Open Finance.
Where it sits in our coverage
Our current consensus target for EUR/USD sits at 1.075 with a range anticipated between 1.04 and 1.12. jpmorgan is projecting a target of 1.10 for March 2026, while bofa diverges with a more conservative outlook set at 1.04.
This perspective aligns closely with our middle-range estimate, reflecting a cautious stance given the evolving nature of these financial frameworks. As we assess market conditions, it's vital to note that our outlook hovers around the midpoint of the current consensus range, striking a balance between robust optimism for Open Finance and the inherent risks of regulatory changes ahead.
How other firms see it
Analysts broadly support the expansion of Open Finance, citing its potential to enhance competition and consumer choice in financial services. Aligned firms like jpmorgan advocate for the potential improvements in market efficiency, while bofa expresses a more conservative approach, highlighting concerns about the implementation complexities and regulatory hurdles.
Market watchers should consider the influence of central bank policies, particularly those of the ECB, which may intersect with the adoption trajectory of Open Finance. The EUR/USD remains sensitively tied to these dynamics, heralding implications for liquidity and trading strategies as the infrastructure for Open Finance takes shape.
How firms align with this view
Aligned with the desk view
Contrary positioning
Key takeaways
- 01Open Finance broadens financial data access beyond existing banking frameworks, impacting user engagement.
- 02The proposal by the European Commission is a critical step towards establishing regulatory clarity around Open Finance.
- 03EUR/USD outlook reflects a consensus that balances optimism for innovation with caution stemming from regulatory uncertainties.
- 04The shift to an Open Finance model may catalyze changes in trader positioning and engagement strategies.
Market implications
Key to watch is the upcoming regulatory landscape regarding Open Finance, especially as the European Commission’s proposals begin to take shape. Any signal of a finalized regulatory framework could prompt significant shifts in the EUR/USD positioning strategies among traders.
Risks to this view
Key risks include potential delays in regulatory adoption or changes in the political landscape surrounding European banking policies that could impede the rollout of Open Finance initiatives, reversing bullish sentiment.
Open banking What is Open Finance? 13-03-2023 The term Open Finance refers to a future open financial system. Open Finance will continue the development initiated by Open Banking and make your own financial data more accessible to you as a customer in a wider range of services and platforms, such as fintech apps for investing, pensions, savings, accounting systems and much more. Your financial data will not be limited to the one company where you are a customer – you will have control over your data and be able to choose how and when you want to access and manage your information and make financial decisions.
This will be made possible by the use of API (application programming interfaces), which are computer programs that let different IT systems communicate and share information in real time. Open Finance is bound to make life easier for both personal customers and corporate customers and result in a better overview and a wider range of services as well as make it easier to both make financial decisions and execute them. What is the difference between Open Banking and Open Finance?
Open finance is the future successor to Open Banking . Open Banking is to a large extent built on the legislative foundation of an EU directive called PSD2 . Consequently, it mainly covers payment initiation and account information services.
Although Nordea and some other banks are already offering financial services embedded in non-banking applications, Open Finance is a broader concept that will extend the scope of shared customer information to areas like savings, investments, mortgages, lending, pensions and insurance. The legislation behind Open Finance, however, is not yet in place but a proposal was published by the European Commission on 28 June 2023. The predecessor of Open Finance: Open Banking Open Banking enables bank customers to see their bank accounts through third parties and to make payments from their bank accounts through third parties. – Open Banking was the first step, empowered by the EU legislation PSD2 , towards creating opportunities for bank customers to see their account information and make payments in other interfaces than those of their bank – to put it very simply. – The PSD2 makes it mandatory for banks to create so-called APIs (computer programs) which enable the customer’s data to be used securely by third parties, at the customer’s request, in real time. – PSD2 enables sharing of account information and initiation of payments on behalf of the customer.
However, some banks, like Nordea, are already offering more financial services embedded in non-banking applications to support customers’ needs. Read more about Open Banking When will Open Finance become a reality? In many ways Open Finance is a concept of the future, and it is still to be seen what exactly it will entail.
However, some parts of Open Finance are already here. Banks don’t necessarily want to wait for legislation before they provide services which enable customers to share and use their data in various channels, and some banks are ahead of the game. Nordea, for instance, already offers various services which are likely to be within the scope of the expected Open Finance legislation.
These services are targeted towards corporate customers who wish to use their bank data in their accounting or ERP systems. They are called Premium APIs and can be found at Nordea API Market . What will Open Finance mean to customers?
Open Finance will continue the development initiated by open banking. It will benefit both personal and corporate customers by making it easier for them to access financial products and services in a variety of third-party services and platforms, such as accounting systems, fintech apps for investing, mortgage broker platforms, financial advisory services and more. Imagine a future where customers will have control over their data and be able to choose how and when they want to access and manage it, whether it be through their mobile banking app or other tools they use in their daily lives.
The expected Open Finance legislation will facilitate innovation and new product offerings by any interested party. Ecosystems will emerge where both banks and non-banks compete and collaborate on offering great customer experiences through new interfaces, personalisation options and insights. Read more about what the digital future holds for Nordea customers Dive further into Open Finance Open banking Digital banking Tech & AI Insights Share on Facebook Share on Threads Share on Linkedin 20-11-2025 Open banking How APIs power the real-time payments revolution in banking The financial industry is right now in the middle of a paradigm shift as real-time payments become the norm rather than the exception.
At the heart of this transformation are banking APIs (application programming interfaces) that enable instant, secure and programmable money movement. Read more 25-09-2025 Digital banking How Nordea is transforming digital wealth experiences At this year’s Nordic Fintech Week, Johan Borg, Head of Digital Wealth, shared insights into how Nordea is transforming its digital wealth management offering to meet the evolving needs of Nordic investors. Read more 23-09-2025 Tech & AI Relationships before robots: How Nordea is leveraging AI in digital banking The Nordic Fintech Week has kicked off with strong Nordea participation.
We met with Malthe Falck, Head of Retail Digital, who gave a keynote on how Nordea is leveraging AI while staying true to its purpose of building trusted customer relationships. Read more Scroll to top
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What is Open Finance?