Open Banking
Open Banking is a UK framework that lets you securely share your bank account data with authorised third-party services. It powers many eligibility checks, budgeting apps and affordability assessments without sharing your login details.
When you use an eligibility checker that asks to "connect your bank" and shows you a one-time approval screen at your own bank's app, that is Open Banking in action. You stay logged in to your bank; the third party only sees the data you approve.
- Open Banking does not share your bank password or PIN with third parties. The bank handles authentication; the third party receives only the data you approve, for the period you approve.
- Open Banking access can be revoked at any time from your bank's app or website. It is not a permanent connection.
- Open Banking is regulated. Providers must be FCA-authorised or registered. Check the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk if in doubt.
Why it matters
Open Banking changed how lenders and budgeting apps see your finances. Before Open Banking, an eligibility check might rely on what you typed into a form and a credit reference agency search. Now, with your permission, a lender can see a snapshot of your real income, regular outgoings and committed credit straight from your bank account.
For borrowers with a thin credit file (young people, new to the UK, recently out of long-term employment), Open Banking can be the difference between being declined on paper and being approved on the strength of actual cashflow.
Common confusion
The biggest misconception is that Open Banking gives third parties unfettered access to your bank account. It does not. You approve a specific service for a specific purpose for a specific period (usually 90 days, renewable). The bank handles the login. The third party only sees the data fields you have agreed to share.
Another confusion is between Open Banking and “screen-scraping” services, which were the older, less secure way of doing the same thing. Screen-scraping required you to hand over your bank login details to a third party. Open Banking does not, and it is regulated.
You can revoke Open Banking access at any time. Each bank’s app has an “approved connections” or “Open Banking” section where you can see who has access and remove them.