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There are now more than 5 million active users of Open Banking (OB) services in the UK based on data provided during January 2022 by the CMA9, the nine banks and building society mandated under the CMA Order to implement OB in the UK.
UK Open Banking users pass the 5 million milestone
This important milestone follows January’s celebration of the 4th anniversary of PSD2 making Open Banking a regulatory requirement in the UK, when more than 4.5 million people and businesses were using the services.
Accelerated speed of growth
What is especially exciting for the UK – and for the UK ecosystem – is the impressive trajectory of that growth. It took 10 months to grow the number of users from 1 million to 2 million in 2020.
In contrast, it has taken just four months to grow from 4 months to more than 5 months, demonstrating the increasing appetite for consumers and small businesses to use the services to move, manage and make the most of their money.
Open Banking payments boost adoption
Payments were the driving force behind this rapid growth – we saw nearly 625,000 additional payments in January 2022 compared with December 2021.
A significant factor in this payments growth was HMRC’s incorporation of a ‘Pay by bank‘ option into its annual self-assessment process, which took the total number of payments made via Open Banking to 3.86 million in January 2022. This is an increase of 19.3% on December 2021.
Commenting on reaching such a significant user milestone, Charlotte Crosswell, Trustee of the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), said: “Open Banking was predicated on delivering increased competition and providing consumers and small businesses with new and innovative solutions. It is therefore extremely encouraging to see that more than 5 million active users are now leveraging the benefits of open banking.
This accelerated growth strongly represents a world-leading and thriving ecosystem bringing an ever-increasing range of real-world solutions, that in turn is driving mass user adoption.
As the technology embeds and becomes easier to use, we look forward to seeing this momentum continue.”
David Beardmore, Ecosystem Development Director at the OBIE, said that as well as increased adoption, the numbers provide a clear demonstration to the wider community that OB is here to stay.
“This is positive news for all involved in OB – for those entrepreneurs who have built FinTech businesses based on the foundations of OB, for the investment community funding the continued expansion of products and services, and for government as it continues to examine how best to extend OB functionality into other areas of the economy.”
To see where the UK is ranked in the Open Banking Readiness Index CLICK HERE
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