CMA hails ‘milestone’ as full completion of Open Banking Roadmap announced

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed the full completion of the final Roadmap for Open Banking, with the last three banking providers to deliver all their Roadmap requirements having now done so.

Open Banking Limited (OBL) said the “milestone” means that all nine banking providers mandated by the CMA under the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order (the CMA Order) have successfully completed the Roadmap and associated required functionality to offer the full suite of Open Banking payment and account information services.

It follows the “substantive” completion of the UK’s Open Banking Roadmap, as announced in January 2023, when the CMA determined that six of the nine largest banking providers had fully implemented all the requirements.

Since then, Danske Bank, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank have fully delivered all their Roadmap requirements, including variable recurring payments (VRPs) for sweeping.

AIB and Bank of Ireland’s delivery plans for VRPs for sweeping were approved and published by the CMA on 27 June 2023, with Bank of Ireland delivering the functionality in August 2023, meaning it was released from its managed roll out (MRO) process in May 2024.

AIB delivered the functionality in March 2024 and was released from its MRO process in August 2024.

OBL reported that Danske Bank delivered the functionality in October 2022 and was released from its MRO process in May 2023.

Marion King, trustee and chair of OBL, said: “The CMA’s confirmation of the Roadmap’s full completion is a major achievement for Open Banking in the UK.

“I’d like to pay tribute to the banking providers who have successfully implemented the Roadmap, and the ecosystem and wider stakeholders for their hard work and collaboration that allowed us to reach this major milestone in a relatively short period of time.”

She added: “Thanks to their efforts, we are now able to move closer to a Smart Data economy in which we unlock the full potential of Open Banking for consumers and businesses alike.”

Marion King, chair of Open Banking Limited

OBL reported a record 11.32 million Open Banking users in July, up 12% on the previous month, while in terms of payments, 19.54 million payments were made in July, and of these, VRPs for sweeping accounted for 2.45 million – representing growth of 23.9%.

Dan Turnbull, senior director at the CMA, said: “Today’s update is an important milestone. The completion of the Roadmap cements the move to the future of Open Banking, one that can expand the benefits of Open Banking beyond the scope of the CMA’s Order. OBL’s work is vital to the ongoing success of Open Banking.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with the FCA, PSR and HM Treasury to help deliver the future arrangements for Open Banking.”

He added that the CMA will continue to ensure the Standard is maintained and that the nine banking providers are held to their ongoing obligations under the Order.

Henk Van Hulle, chief executive officer of OBL, said the next step is to explore the potential of commercial VRPs, “which have the capacity to revolutionise the way businesses manage payments”.

“We are eager to see how third-party providers will harness this new capability to drive further innovation in the financial sector,” Van Hulle said.

Open Banking Limited is an event partner of Open Banking Expo UK and Europe, taking place at the Business Design Centre in London on 15-16 October. Click here to find out more about attending, exhibiting and sponsoring.