Senior figures from across the UK payments sector say the FCA’s next phase of Open Finance must avoid repeating early Open Banking fragmentation, warning that global interoperability, infrastructure coherence and user trust will determine whether the framework delivers meaningful scale.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority‘s (FCA) upcoming Open Finance roadmap – due by March 2026 – is emerging as a critical test of whether the UK can convert years of open banking progress into scalable, commercially viable infrastructure, according to senior industry figures speaking at a recent roundtable of payments and fintech leaders.
While Open Banking has established the rails and proven consumer appetite, during a closed-door roundtable held by Started PR, experts warned the next phase will only succeed if the regulator focuses on interoperability, infrastructure coherence, and user trust, rather than expanding use cases without sequencing.
Rishi Patel, CEO and Founder of Interpolitan Money, argued that the FCA must design Open Finance with global money movement in mind, not just domestic use cases.
“Payments and financial infrastructure are becoming increasingly interconnected globally. The UK’s approach to Open Finance should therefore be designed with international compatibility in mind,” he explained.
“Businesses moving high-value or complex multi-currency capital need certainty, tracking and predictable settlement. Frameworks that support those outcomes will inspire trust and help contribute to an ever more interconnected financial system.
Patel went on to note that infrastructure changes which cause “unnecessary and avoidable anxiety and ambiguity will fail”, noting payment traffic will be routed elsewhere. “The goal for Open Finance should be practical interoperability, not theoretical alignment,” he said.
A2A payments entering a new phase — but fragmentation risks remain
Kimberley Waldron, Founder of Started PR, said the UK is no longer in an “experimentation phase” and that Open Finance must now support the commercial maturation of account‑to‑account (A2A) payments.
“This moment for Open Finance is very different from where open banking began, we are no longer in an early experimentation phase,” she said. “A2A payments are gaining real commercial momentum, and regulators are increasingly viewing payments infrastructure through the lens of resilience and control.
Waldron argued the UK is entering a fundamentally different phase of Open Finance, where questions of control, resilience, and payment sovereignty are no longer abstract. In her view, sovereignty in payments is about who controls the rails that move money, who sets the rules, and how resilient everyday commerce is under pressure.
She said Open Finance now needs to support the continued maturation of A2A payments so that they become a dependable part of the UK’s payment choice landscape.
“Earlier waves of digital payments were held back by fragmentation and uneven adoption,” she said. “Now, as instant payments embed more deeply and interoperability improves, the structural conditions for scale are finally forming. The FCA’s roadmap should reinforce that direction of travel rather than introducing new uncertainty.”
Infrastructure coherence identified as the missing foundation
Serhii Zakharov, CEO and Founder of PayDo, warned the UK cannot repeat the fragmentation and duplicated processes that slowed earlier fintech innovation.
“One of the biggest lessons from the past decade is that innovation at the interface has often outpaced the foundations beneath it,” he said. “Many of the most persistent challenges facing fintech today originate not in what users see, but in fragmented infrastructure, duplicated compliance processes and brittle integrations.
Zakharov stressed businesses now expect financial capability to operate in the background and that embedded finance only succeeds when users barely notice it. When the underlying infrastructure fails, he argued, the entire experience built on top of it is compromised.
For him, this is why the next phase of Open Finance must prioritise coherence rather than simply widening access.
“Unified ecosystems that bring onboarding, compliance, routing and settlement together will determine whether Open Finance delivers meaningful value” he said. “Without that foundation, even the most advanced data-sharing capabilities will struggle to translate into reliable payment experiences.”
Trust and user experience remain decisive for adoption
Justin Pike, CEO and Founder of Burbank, said that even the strongest infrastructure will fail commercially if the user experience undermines trust at the point of payment.
“Ultimately, adoption will be won or lost at the moment of payment,” said Pike. “If Open Finance makes consent clearer, reduces step-heavy verification and mirrors the reassurance consumers already feel in-store, it will unlock meaningful growth.
“But if the user experience becomes more layered or less transparent, the industry risks recreating the very trust gap it is trying to close. Trust is no longer a soft metric. It is a commercial one, and the roadmap should reflect that reality.”
Waldron added that the FCA must be realistic about what it can deliver first.
“On a very practical level, the FCA also faces a sequencing challenge,” she said. “It cannot realistically advance every Open Finance use case at once. The early focus should be on areas where the commercial and consumer benefits are most measurable.
“SME finance and lending journeys are a logical starting point. These are areas where better data access and more consistent infrastructure can materially improve decision-making, reduce onboarding friction and accelerate funding timelines.”
Sequencing and cross‑border clarity seen as early priorities
Patel closed the discussion by cautioning that the FCA risks weakening the UK’s role in global financial flows if Open Finance becomes too domestic or overly prescriptive. From a cross‑border perspective, he said the central question is whether Open Finance frameworks align with the operational reality of modern money movement.
“Many businesses today operate across multiple jurisdictions, complex ownership structures and time-sensitive payment requirements. Traditional providers have not always been built for that reality, which is why alternative banking models have emerged to fill the gap,” he said.
For Patel, access should be delivered with “compliance, expertise and trust”, not restricted by unnecessary complexity. If Open Finance is implemented in a way that becomes overly domestic or overly prescriptive, he argued, it risks creating new friction points for businesses moving money internationally.
“The UK has an opportunity to design a framework that supports clarity and interoperability from the outset. If it does, Open Finance can strengthen the UK’s position as a hub for global financial flows. If it does not, firms will simply route around the friction,” he said.
