Open banking payments double in first half 2023
There was double the volume of open banking payments in the first six months of 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, according to the latest data from Open Banking Limited (OBL).
OBL’s fifth Open Banking Impact Report published yesterday covers the six months to June 2023. It focuses exclusively on availability and adoption.
It reports that 9.7 million payments were made in June 2023, an increase of 88 per cent on the same month in 2022.
The open banking monitoring body reported there had been further growth since the cut-off point for the report, with 10.8 million payments made in August 2023.
OBL was established in 2016 with an initial remit was to create a shared API for the nine largest UK banks to allow customers to safely and securely share their data.
Read more: SMEs faster to adopt open banking than consumers
The report reveals that there were 151 fully regulated firms with live-to-market open banking-enabled products and services as of June 2023. This figure is down by eight since December 2022 due to market withdrawal or acquisition.
Financial decision-making, payments and borrowing made up 75 per cent of all propositions, with 45 of each of the first two categories and 26 of the latter.
The availability of products and services offered by agents of regulated third party providers (TPPs) has increased by 36 since the end of March 2022, equating to 208 at the end of 2022.
Read more: Open banking use rises by “exceptional” 102.4pc
Using data from Pay.UK for the first time, the report revealed that the total monthly value of open banking payments sits at around £4.5bn, with the average transaction value coming in at around £450.
“It is exciting to see the increased adoption of open banking,” OBL chair and trustee Marion King said. “The latest data shows this has been driven by payments, alongside the emergence of new providers and innovative products which help consumers and SMEs to budget and save in smarter and more effective ways.”
King conceded there is more to do for retail banking markets to make the most of open banking.
Pay.UK head of product Euan Ballantyne added: “2022 saw significant growth in the number of open banking transactions processed over the Faster Payments System.
“The high percentage of growth rates highlight that we can expect ‘Pay by bank’ and variable recurring payments for sweeping to be a significant source of immediate payments as we look ahead to the rest of 2023 and beyond.”
Yesterday, the OBL published two data collection frameworks on ‘Levelling up availability and performance’ and ‘Mitigating the risks of financial crime’, completing the first two deliverables under four themes it was asked to consider by regulators in April 2023.
Read more: FCA to chair new open banking working group