A new study from Juniper Research has found that the value of global payment transactions facilitated by Open Banking will grow from just under US$4 billion in 2021 to more than US$116 billion in 2026.
This extraordinary growth rate of over 2,800% over the next five years will be driven by increasing user awareness of Open Banking features, supported by greater deployment within Europe in particular, as vendors build on PSD2 (Second Payment Services Directive) APIs to deliver expanding services.
Open Banking is a banking practice that provides third-party financial service providers open access to consumer banking, transaction, and other financial data from banks and non-bank financial institutions through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs).
The new research, titled Open Banking: Key Opportunities, Vendor Strategies & Market Forecasts 2021‑2026, identified Open Banking-facilitated payments, where payments are made directly from bank accounts, as a growing threat to the dominance of cards within eCommerce.
It noted that while card payments are well established, leveraging permissioned access to bank accounts can reduce fraud risks due to strict KYC (Know Your Customer) rules.
The report therefore recommends that payment providers partner should with Open Banking API providers now to reduce risks of disintermediation.
Europe Dominating Open Banking Payments
The research also found that Europe will account for over 75% of Open Banking payments users globally in 2026; demonstrating the head start that PSD2 has given this market.
However, the report recommends that API vendors 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.
Research co-author Damla Sat explained: “While PSD2 is a great starting point, it is not the end goal for Open Banking – supportive regulation must be a platform for much greater innovation. The race is on for vendors to build the most compelling capabilities for the future of Open Finance.”
US Market Opening Up
The research found 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 capitalise. As such, we anticipate acquisitions and partnerships to intensify, so vendors can meet these evolving requirements quickly, rather than developing their own solutions over time.
Ghana
In Ghana, Open Banking is picking up steadily as telcos and their partner financial institutions now give their customers access to consumer banking services on the mobile money platforms. Again, the industry interoperability platform allow transfers between bank accounts and wallets, while the GHQR also allows users direct access to their bank accounts for payments. All these eliminate the use of cards for payments.
Meanwhile, as part of its Ambition 2025 strategy, telecoms market leader MTN has also introduced an API Marketplace called Chenosis, which allows young starts access to the MTN platform via API to render services and receive payment directly from their customers via mobile money.
For more insights, download the free whitepaper: Open Banking ~ Levelling the Banking Playing Field
