Open banking gives you the account itself: balances, dated transactions, standing orders, direct debits, the account holder's details, statements and product information, for whichever accounts the customer connects. On its own this is raw data; a platform turns it into clean categories, detected income and an affordability view. It is a live picture of real money in and out, not a credit file.
The data you can request, by what a lender needs
The Standard organises account data into groups; it is easier to think about them by the job they do for you:
| What you get | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Balances | Current and available balance on each connected account, right now. |
| Transactions | Dated debits and credits with descriptions and amounts: the raw material for income and spending analysis. |
| Standing orders & direct debits | Regular commitments the customer has set up: rent, subscriptions, loan repayments, insurance. |
| Account holder (parties) | The name and details on the account, useful for identity and name matching. |
| Statements | Statement periods and figures, where a formal statement view is needed. |
| Product details | The type of account and its terms, including overdraft information. |
A customer approves which of these you may see. For an affordability decision you typically need transactions, balances and regular commitments; for referencing you may also want the account holder's details. See income verification and affordability assessment for how this becomes a decision.
How far back history goes
Banks commonly return up to around 24 months of transaction history, but the exact window depends on the bank and the account, and some return less. For most affordability and income work the useful window is the last 3 to 12 months, which is almost always available. If your use case genuinely needs two years, test coverage across the banks your customers actually use rather than assuming a single figure.
How fresh it is
Open banking data is close to real time. When a customer connects, you see their account much as they see it in their own app, including very recent transactions, subject to how each bank posts pending items. This freshness is one of its biggest advantages over a monthly statement or a declared figure: you are looking at what is actually happening in the account now, not a snapshot from weeks ago.
What is not available
- Accounts the customer does not connect. You see what they choose to share, not every account they hold.
- Borrowing held elsewhere. A loan or card at another provider only shows up if its repayments pass through a connected account.
- A credit score or market-wide history. Open banking is account activity, not a bureau file. For that, see open banking vs credit bureau.
- Data before the available window. History is bounded by what the bank returns.
Raw data vs enriched data
This is the distinction that matters most in practice. The bank's API gives you raw transactions: a date, a description such as a cryptic merchant string, and an amount. That is accurate but not yet useful. Enrichment is the work a platform does on top: cleaning and categorising each transaction, identifying salary and other income, spotting recurring commitments, and rolling it up into a spending picture and an affordability view. Two providers reading the same raw feed can produce very different quality of output, which is why enrichment, not access, is where providers compete. When you assess a provider, test the enriched result on real statements, not the raw coverage.
From the data consumer's side
Do not buy the feed; buy the decision. Access to the raw API is a commodity: almost everyone connects to the major banks. The difference you feel in your underwriting is categorisation accuracy, income detection and how cleanly commitments are identified, because that is what drives the affordability number you act on. When you evaluate open banking, run your own real cases through it and judge the output, not the brochure. See choosing a provider.
How Credit Canary does it
Credit Canary takes the raw open banking feed and returns the enriched result: categorised transactions, detected income, identified commitments and an affordability view, delivered into your decision engine or dashboard alongside credit bureau and identity data. You consume a decision, not a data dump.
Common questions
How far back does open banking transaction history go?
Banks commonly return up to about 24 months of transaction history, though the exact window varies by bank and account. For affordability most lenders look at the last 3 to 12 months, which is usually available.
How fresh is open banking data?
It reflects the account close to real time: recent transactions appear much as they do in the customer's own banking app, subject to each bank's own posting of pending items. It is far fresher than a monthly statement.
What can open banking not tell you?
It shows the accounts the customer connects, not every account they hold, and it does not show borrowing held elsewhere, a credit score, or history before the available window. It is a view of real money movement, not a market-wide credit file.
What is the difference between raw and enriched open banking data?
Raw data is what the bank's API returns: dated transactions with a description and amount. Enriched data is what a platform adds on top: clean categories, detected income, recurring commitments and an affordability view.
Related pages
Primary sources
- Read/Write API v4.0.1, resources and data models (checked 14 Oct 2026).
- Open Banking Standard, Customer Experience Guidelines (permissions and data clusters) (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.