Open banking covers payment accounts; open finance would extend the same idea to the rest of someone's finances. Open banking lets a customer share current-account data and make account-to-account payments, and it is live. Open finance would add savings, pensions, investments, mortgages and insurance. In the UK that extension is being built through the smart data framework rather than fully live today.
Definitions
Open banking is the live UK framework for sharing payment-account data and making account-to-account payments, with the customer's consent. Open finance is the proposed extension of that same model to a wider set of financial products, so a customer could choose to share, say, their pension or mortgage data as easily as their current account. The principle is identical, consented, secure, customer-controlled data sharing; the scope is wider. See what is open banking.
What open finance adds
- Savings and investments, for a fuller view of assets.
- Pensions, long a hard-to-access, fragmented area.
- Mortgages and lending, for a complete liabilities picture.
- Insurance, for cover and commitments.
For a lender or adviser, the appeal is obvious: a single consented view of someone's whole financial position would make affordability and advice far richer than a current-account snapshot alone.
The UK smart data route
Rather than a single "open finance" mandate, the UK is building this through smart data: a general framework for secure, consented data sharing across sectors, including finance and energy. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 created the legal powers to establish sector-specific smart data schemes. In practice that means open finance is likely to arrive as a series of schemes over time rather than all at once, with the detail and timing set by regulation. See who regulates open banking for the bodies involved.
Side by side
| Open banking | Open finance | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Payment accounts | Savings, pensions, investments, mortgages, insurance |
| Status | Live | Emerging, via smart data |
| Basis | CMA Order, PSRs 2017 | Smart data framework (DUA Act 2025) |
| Available now for lending | Yes | Not generally |
What it means for you
The practical message is: build on open banking now, and watch open finance. Open banking already supports income, affordability and payments today; open finance will deepen the picture over the coming years but should not be treated as available for a live use case yet. The firms that benefit most will be those already comfortable with consented data, because adding new smart data schemes is an extension of what they already do, not a new discipline.
From the data consumer's side
Do not wait for open finance to start using open banking. The value, verified income, real affordability, account-to-account payments, is available now, and the direction of travel is firmly toward more data sharing, not less. Treat open finance as upside: design your processes around consented data today, and you are positioned to absorb pensions, investments or mortgage data as those schemes land, without re-architecting.
How Credit Canary does it
Credit Canary is built on consented data: open banking today, combined with credit bureau and identity data, in one platform. As smart data schemes extend what can be shared, the same model absorbs them, so you benefit from a wider financial picture without changing how you work.
Common questions
What is open finance?
Open finance would extend open banking's model of consented data sharing beyond payment accounts to products such as savings, pensions, investments, mortgages and insurance, so a customer could share a fuller financial picture with a provider they choose.
What is the difference between open banking and open finance?
Open banking covers payment accounts, current accounts and the data and payments around them, and is live. Open finance is the broader extension to other financial products, which in the UK is being enabled through the smart data framework rather than fully live today.
What is smart data?
Smart data is the UK's framework for secure, consented sharing of customer data across sectors, including finance, energy and more. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 created the powers to make sector-specific smart data schemes.
Is open finance live in the UK?
Open banking is live; broader open finance is largely still being designed and legislated for through the smart data framework. Check the current position before planning a use case that depends on non-banking data.
Related pages
Primary sources
- Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, c. 18 (checked 14 Oct 2026).
- openbanking.org.uk, open finance (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.