Shannon Bellringer
As we look ahead to 2026, the open banking and open finance landscape is at an inflection point. After years of building standards, passing regulations, and laying groundwork, we’re entering a phase where theory meets practice on a global scale and where compliance obligations transform into commercial opportunities.
2026 feels different. The momentum is shifting. Markets that have been planning are now implementing. Banks that have been complying are looking towards commercialisation. Use cases that have been theoretical are becoming real.
Having worked in this space since the beginning, Huw Davies, our CEO and Co-Founder, has seen the industry evolve from concept to regulation to early adoption. In this article, we asked him to share three predictions for what’s coming in open banking and open finance over the next twelve months. These aren’t wild speculations, they’re based on what we’re seeing on the ground across the dozens of markets where we work, from established ecosystems in the UK and Europe to emerging frameworks in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Here’s Huw’s 3 open banking predictions for 2026:
“I think it will finally be the year for commercialisation.
We’ve seen JP Morgan make big moves in the US this year with commercialisation of their open banking APIs. It may well be that the interim 1033 rule gives a green light to continue that. But I think in UK and Europe we will finally see commercialisation of variable recurring payments and possibly with competing schemes trying to create that commercial layer so that banks can expose variable recurring payment APIs and unlock a whole load of new interesting use cases as well as the commercial framework that’s been defined in the UAE.
So I think it’ll definitely be the year of commercialisation and premium APIs becoming a reality.”
“I think we will see more and more markets move into the implementation phase.
We have Canada just about to start on that journey. Colombia is just about to move towards the implementation dates. I think we’ll see a number of other markets in the Middle East look to follow what has been happening in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In Asia-Pacific markets like Thailand and Malaysia. I think we will see an awful lot of markets move into regulatory implementations in 2026.
But also I think we’ll see a number of markets look to follow the model of the UAE and implement centralised infrastructure to take the heavy lifting away from banks and allow the banks to get there more quickly with less complexity and less cost and allow the ecosystem to fall more quickly. We’re expecting to see a number of markets follow that model.”
“I think we’ll start to see more open finance, real progress rather than talk.
We’ve got markets like Brazil and the UAE that have got pretty ambitious frameworks and moving beyond typical banking products. I think we’ll see that start to happen in a few more markets and real use cases start to emerge.
And interestingly I think what that does is that lays the pipes, the data pipes, that will allow AI to really have a significant impact. So if you are getting data across multiple different types of financial services products then the foundations are there for hyper personalisation of financial advice and financial management. So, I think it’ll be early days, but I think we’ll start to see some real examples of that hyper personalisation start to come through where open finance is becoming a reality.”
It’s going to be another interesting year.
The shift from regulatory compliance to business value is happening. Banks that have been treating open banking as a checkbox exercise will need to reconsider their strategy as competitors start monetising premium APIs and delivering better customer experiences through data-driven personalisation.
For regulators and central banks, the UAE’s centralised infrastructure model offers a proven path to faster, cheaper implementation, something we expect more markets to adopt as they move from design to deployment.
And for the broader financial services ecosystem, open finance creates the data foundation that emerging technologies like AI need to deliver on their promise. This isn’t about technology for technology’s sake, it’s about better financial outcomes for consumers and businesses.
At Ozone API, we’re working with banks, regulators, and partners across all these markets to turn these predictions into reality. If you’re navigating open banking implementation, exploring commercialisation strategies, or designing an open finance framework, we’d love to talk.
Here’s to 2026.
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