What Our Regional GMs are Expecting in Open Finance this H2

The first half of 2026 has been busy; Colombia made open finance mandatory, Saudi Arabia issued its first commercial open banking licences, the UAE completed one of the most ambitious cross-border open finance experiments in the world, UKPI launched what it calls the first new UK payment scheme since 2008, and in Brussels, a decade-long legislative effort is finally about to land in the Official Journal.

That’s a lot of ground covered in six months. The next six will be just as impactful.

To make sense of what’s coming, we asked our regional General Managers – the people closest to these markets, working with banks, regulators and fintechs on the ground – what they’re expecting before 2027. Read on for a regional breakdown of open finance in H2 2026: where the regulatory action is, where the commercial momentum is building, and where the real surprises might come from.

From Specs to Live in Latin America

Latin America (LATAM) may have some work to do in building open finance standards across the region, but several countries are set to share initial timelines and technical specs in the coming months.

According to Fabio Caldeira, General Manager for Latin America at Ozone API, Colombia’s first version of technical specs will be shared in October. “This will drive a lot of momentum for the whole market to get ready for 2027 deployments,” Fabio predicts. This follows Decree No. 0368 in April 2026 that makes data sharing a legal requirement for every SFC-supervised entity, with API access launched within the next two years.

In Chile, the technical specs are ready and Fabio predicts more will be done to determine timelines. He says, “It’s promising as there are financial entities already working on the first use cases!”, ahead of the start of mandatory data sharing in July 2027 following a 12-month delay from CMF for further implementation testing. Chile also has the highest confidence score in LATAM, with 55% of Chilean fintechs rating its regulatory environment as better than the regional average, showing strong engagement from the industry for upcoming development.

Fabio believes the market in Peru is motivated by the impact open finance will have in improving financial inclusion. 

“I expect the region to quickly catch up and surprise the market by stepping ahead with a very clear perspective on how the financial inclusion can skyrocket (40% of adults in Peru are unbanked) with the implementation of a successful open finance ecosystem.”

Fabio Caldeira

The first wave of live data sharing is targeted for late 2027, aiming to continue the rapid growth seen in Peru in recent years. For example, digital transactions increased by 61% in H1 of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, and bank access increased from 41% in 2019 to 67% in 2024. The next wave of inclusion has been laid out in Peru’s Open Finance Roadmap of February 2026, and we eagerly anticipate the development in the region.

Summary:

Pressing Forward in North America

2026 has been the year of commercialisation in the US, with JP Morgan setting a clear market precedent with the monetisation of their open banking APIs in the last 12 months.

At the start of 2026, the US was set to gain momentum for commercialisation with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) landmark Personal Financial Data Rights rule (Section 1033). This was blocked by a federal court challenge, and we expect to see it rewritten during the remainder of 2026.

Our Co-Founder and CEO, Huw Davies asks, “One question is whether the smart money should be put on charging models being allowed in the rewritten rule. My prediction is yes. However, whether that becomes clear within H2 is less certain.”

In Canada, we’ve seen the Consumer Driven Banking Act receive royal assent and the regulations published already in 2026. In the second half of the year we should see some of the key details confirmed:

“An important consideration is what standard will be selected? The most likely outcome is a Canadian version of FDX, as long as there is sufficient reassurance about the sovereignty of the standard (will it be Canadian enough?). Hopefully we will also see the implementation timelines become clear in the second half of the year.”

Huw Davies

The targeted launch for Canada’s Real-Time Rail (RTR) is set for Q4 this year, a significant overhaul of the payments infrastructure. The next phase in open banking is dependent on this delivery, so H2 will set the ball rolling for further growth.

Summary:

Monetisation in UK & Europe

In the UK, ecosystem participants are actively working with OBL to design the Future Entity. This independent body is expected to become the primary standard-setting, officially shaping the next phase of open banking in 2027.

Claire Seydoux, General Manager of UK & Europe at Ozone API, said “I expect further interesting developments in Commercial VRP as UKPI and Visa A2A provide alternative account-to-account solutions to Direct Debit or Card-on-File for e-commerce use cases.” UKPI launched wave 1 of the commercial VRP scheme in June 2026, with 31 firms participating in ‘the first new UK payment scheme since Faster Payments launched in 2008’. The aim of this initiative is to drive the commercialisation of open finance in the UK, continuing to set the global standard for secure and compliant data sharing.

For Europe, Claire said:

“I am expecting official publication of PSD3 and PSR in the Official Journal of the EU over the summer, with a 21-month implementation countdown by 2028. Enhancements include a consent dashboard – an integrated consumer interface allowing users to view, manage, and revoke permissions granted to TPPs. Also slated for formal publication mid/late 2026, FIDA will broaden the regulatory scope to Open Finance sectors prioritizing high-demand data like savings and investments.”

The European Parliament and Council reached provisional agreement on PSD3 and PSR in November 2025, with publication expected imminently. Firms then have 21 months to comply with the changes. This will set a standard across the region to ensure less fragmentation, better access for customers and accountability for banks.

Summary:

Big Moves in Middle East & Africa

Following the UAE’s Open Finance Regulation in July 2025, the deadline for full industry compliance is 16th September 2026. By building a framework designed to work beyond payments, the UAE is well set-up to transform data into real open finance capabilities. “This can unlock faster approvals, better risk assessment, and greater financial inclusion for SMEs, freelancers and underserved customer segments,” according to our MEA General Manager, Nihal Abughattas.

The UAE also completed Project Aperta in June 2026, a BIS Innovation Hub initiative connecting domestic open finance networks across the UAE, UK, Hong Kong, Brazil and India. The architecture has been released as open-source, and we expect to see further “regional interoperability, innovation and competition, creating new opportunities for financial institutions, fintechs and consumers alike.”

Saudi Arabia’s central bank, SAMA, launched full commercial licensing for open banking service providers in March 2026, ending the sandbox-only era. The first licence has been granted and we expect more to be achieved in H2 of 2026, expanding the use cases in the region, particularly for lending and insurance. The next wave of open finance growth is expected to come from other markets in the region, such as Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt, following the strong model set by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Summary:

Accelerating Development in Asia-Pacific

Australia set the precedent with the Consumer Data Right, which will be expanding in 2026 to non-bank lenders. This will bring about a range of new products and services for customers and increase market competition as we saw in New Zealand last year. Huw Davies predicts the collaboration between large, non-bank lenders and smaller players with the new changes.

Huw also predicts, “The ACCC more aggressively starts to crack down on screen scraping to drive access through the more secure CDR API infrastructure.” CDR has already proven its superiority over screen scraping, with almost double a new-connection success rate and as little as 0.17% disruption rate compared to 15% for screen scraping. Directing connections to CDR will improve customer experience and drive further development for open data.

Mandatory open finance in Malaysia is set for January 2027, so H2 will be about preparing for that change.

“Malaysia has been progressing a different path than most of South East Asia. Taking inspiration from markets like the UAE in the second half of the year we will see a live proof of concept of a centralised open finance market infrastructure with the first banks connecting and testing.”

Huw Davies

Vietnam is also preparing for the March 2027 deadline after “Circular 64 fired the starting gun for API based data sharing” in March 2025. For the remainder of 2026, we will see banks start to focus on how they implement consent-based data sharing and match compliance standards ahead of the deadline.

Summary:

The Final Steps to Go-Live

When looking at what we can expect before the end of 2026, one thing stands out: the gap between a published framework and a working market is closing faster than most expected.

In the UK, commercial VRP is live and the race for recurring payment relationships — currently owned by Direct Debit — has begun in earnest. In Europe, the summer publication of PSD3 and PSR will start a 21-month compliance clock that will reshape how every bank on the continent thinks about API quality and consumer consent. In the UAE, the September deadline is real, with AED 1 billion in potential fines to back it up. Saudi Arabia has moved from sandbox to licensing. Canada has its legislation; now it needs its rail. Malaysia is running a live proof of concept. Vietnam’s banks are getting to grips with what consent-based data sharing actually means in practice.

What connects all of these is something our team hears consistently in every market: the questions have changed. Two years ago, most conversations were about whether open finance was coming, and when. Now they’re about what to build first, which standard to back, how to price API access, and how to turn a compliance obligation into something that generates revenue. That’s a meaningful shift.

H2 2026 won’t resolve all of it. Canada’s standard selection, the CFPB rewrite in the US, FIDA’s final trilogue, Colombia’s first technical specs — these are milestones that will shape the next several years, not just the next six months. But they’re moving, and the direction is consistent across every market in this post.

If you’re navigating any of these markets and want to compare notes, our regional teams are the right people to talk to. Get in touch today.