Choose an open banking provider on the whole job, not the access price. Score candidates on regulatory status, bank coverage for your customers, enrichment quality, payments, SLAs, security, data residency, pricing transparency and exit terms, then test the enriched output on your own real cases. The checklist below is yours to copy into a scorecard.
Regulatory status: own licence vs agent
Providers come in two legitimate shapes. Some hold their own FCA authorisation as an account information or payment initiation service provider. Others operate as an agent of an authorised principal, using the principal's permissions. Neither is inherently better, and plenty of capable providers use the agent model. What matters is that the authorisation actually covers the activities you need, that responsibilities between principal and agent are clear, and that you can verify the status on the FCA register. Be wary of vagueness here: a provider should be able to state exactly whose authorisation its service runs under. See who regulates open banking.
The checklist
Copy this into a scorecard and rate each provider out of five. The score column is left blank for you to fill in.
| Criterion | What good looks like | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory status | Clear FCA authorisation (own or named principal) covering your activities. | /5 |
| Bank coverage | Strong coverage of the banks your customers actually use, not just the largest. | /5 |
| Data enrichment | Accurate categorisation, income detection and affordability on messy, real statements. | /5 |
| Payments | Pay by bank and VRP where you need them, with clean status and reconciliation. | /5 |
| SLAs and reliability | Committed uptime, support response times, and a plan for bank downtime. | /5 |
| Security certification | Meets the required security profile and holds recognised certifications. | /5 |
| Data residency | Data stored and processed where your policy requires. | /5 |
| Pricing transparency | A clear, total-cost quote you can compare, not a teaser rate. | /5 |
| Exit terms | You can leave cleanly, with your data and no punitive lock-in. | /5 |
Testing it yourself
The single most useful step is to run your own real, difficult cases through each shortlisted provider and judge the enriched output by hand: does the detected income match reality, are commitments identified, is the categorisation clean on the messy statements, not the tidy ones. Demos use easy examples; your customers are not all easy. Pair this with a coverage test against your actual customer base and a total-cost comparison, and the right choice usually becomes obvious. See how much open banking costs and raw vs enriched data.
How we answer this checklist
For transparency, here is how Credit Canary maps to the list, as one option among others. Credit Canary provides open banking through an FCA-authorised principal (fumopay limited, FRN 925689) of which it is an agent; it combines open banking with TransUnion credit bureau and identity data; it returns enriched decisions rather than raw feeds; it supports pay by bank and VRP; and it prices on volume with a clear quote. You should still score it against your own needs alongside any alternatives.
From the data consumer's side
The mistake to avoid is choosing on access price or a slick demo. The things that bite later are coverage gaps for your customer base, weak categorisation that produces wrong decisions, and unclear exit terms. Score the whole job, test on real cases, and make sure you understand whose authorisation the service runs under. A good provider will welcome all three.
How Credit Canary does it
Credit Canary delivers enriched open banking through a regulated principal, with TransUnion and identity data in the same platform, pay by bank and VRP, and pricing from £250 per month scaling with volume. We are happy to be scored against this checklist on your own cases.
Common questions
How do I choose an open banking provider?
Score candidates on regulatory status, bank coverage for your customers, data enrichment quality, payment support, SLAs, security certification, UK data residency, pricing transparency and exit terms. Test the enriched output on your own real cases rather than relying on the brochure.
What is the difference between a provider with its own licence and an agent?
Some providers hold their own FCA authorisation; others operate as an agent of an authorised principal. Both are legitimate. What matters is that the authorisation covers the activities you need and that responsibilities are clear.
Why does bank coverage matter?
Everyone connects to the largest banks, but coverage of smaller banks and building societies varies. If your customers use a wide range of banks, test coverage against your actual customer base, not a headline number.
What should I check on security and data residency?
Confirm the provider meets the required security profile, holds recognised certifications, and stores and processes data where your policy requires, for many UK firms that means UK or clearly specified data residency.
Related pages
Primary sources
- openbanking.org.uk, regulated providers (checked 14 Oct 2026).
- FCA register and authorisation (checked 14 Oct 2026).
Credit Canary provides open banking through fumopay limited, an FCA-authorised account information and payment initiation service provider (FRN 925689), of which Credit Canary is an agent. Underlying bank connectivity is also provided by fumopay limited. This page is an evergreen reference and is reviewed and dated; it is not regulatory, legal or financial advice.