Open Banking

Open Banking is a UK Government initiative to remove the barriers that stop your accounts from working better together when they’re held with different building societies, banks and other providers. By safely sharing your account information, Open Banking makes it possible for financial technology (fintech) providers, banks, online retailers and other companies to create innovative new apps, services and products that can help save you time and money.

Open Banking could ‘unlock’ the banking industry – make it more competitive, provide more choice for consumers and boost innovation.

The Open Banking initiative is being led by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in collaboration with us, consumer groups, banks, online retailers and fintech providers. For more information, see the Open Banking website (opens in a new window).

Open Banking lets you share data about your current account and credit card with third parties that are listed as an approved Open Banking provider on the Open Banking Directory (opens in a new window). You can also authorise these third parties to request payments on your behalf.

Open Banking could have the potential to:

• make it easier to apply for new financial products, like mortgages
• let you move money between your accounts to take advantage of the best rates available. Even if they’re with different providers.

You can share:

• if you pay a monthly fee on your account
• details of Direct Debits and standing orders
• your account balance and transactions
• the interest you earn or pay, and any charges.

You can share:

• if you have an interest-free offer
• your account balance and transactions
• your credit card limit
• the interest and charges you pay.

You can choose how long you want to share your data with an approved third party. You can stop sharing your data at any time by contacting us or the third party.

More about Open Banking security

Before you can set up Open Banking, you need to register for online banking and have logged in at least once.

Once registered, you can set up Open Banking by:

1. Giving access to a company you want to share your data with. You could do this by agreeing to give an authorised third party access on their website or mobile app.
2. Confirming this using our Open Banking portal. You’ll get redirected to us to enter your online banking security details for security purposes.
3. They’re granted access. We’ll then redirect you back to the third party and they can start accessing your data. We only give access to information you have agreed to.

The company you want to share data with must be in the Open Banking Directory (opens in a new window). For your security, if they’re not listed, we cannot let them access your account data.

You can review or stop another company accessing your data through Open Banking using the Internet Bank or Banking app.

To review who you share your data with on the Internet Bank:

1. Log in to the Internet Bank
2. Choose Manage my details and settings
3. Choose Open Banking Authorisations

To review who you share your data with on the Banking app:

1. Log in to the Banking app
2. Choose the menu button in the top right of the screen
3. Choose Details & Settings
4. Choose Open Banking Data Sharing

You could also cancel sharing data with a company using their cancellation process.

Third parties may give you the option to make payments using Open Banking to:

• move money between your accounts with different providers; or
• pay for products or services.

One-off payments, recurring payments, future-dated payments and standing orders are all supported through Open Banking.

The payments can be made from your current account. But only authorised third parties who have been given your consent can request payments.