TECHNOLOGY

Open Banking Hits 1B Payments as Global Fintechs Expand

Open Banking Hits 1B Payments as Global Fintechs Expand

Open Banking reaches new heights as global adoption accelerates

The UK’s Open Banking ecosystem has quietly passed a pair of extraordinary milestones, and the rest of the world is taking note. More than one billion Open Banking payments and 100 billion API calls have now been recorded across the CMA9 banks since the initiative launched more than eight years ago. Those numbers signal that Open Banking has moved firmly from experiment to infrastructure — and the latest wave of partnerships and product launches shows how deeply that infrastructure is being woven into everyday financial services.

API-first bank Increase launches in the US

In the United States, Increase has launched as an API-first bank built for fintechs and software platforms. The company’s technology is already trusted by some of the largest names in the sector, handling money movement, storage, and card issuance behind the scenes. Increase’s arrival is significant because it offers a modern alternative to legacy banking rails, giving developers direct access to banking capabilities through clean, well-documented APIs. For a market that has lagged the UK in Open Banking adoption, this is a sign of convergence.

Plend secures £50m credit facility from Triple Point

Across the Atlantic, responsible lender Plend has secured a £50m credit facility from Triple Point. Plend uses Open Banking data and proprietary credit technology to assess affordability based on a customer’s real financial circumstances, rather than relying on outdated credit scores. The facility will allow Plend to scale its lending to more underserved borrowers, and it demonstrates something important: Open Banking is not just about payments and account aggregation. It is also becoming a core tool for fairer, more accurate credit risk assessment. That is a theme likely to resonate with regulators and consumers alike.

Open Banking hits 1bn payments and 100bn API calls

The UK milestones announced this month put those developments in context. Reaching one billion payments is a clear proof point that consumers and businesses are willing to use Open Banking-powered services in their daily lives. The 100 billion API calls figure is even more revealing — it shows the sheer depth of machine-to-machine connectivity underpinning modern fintech. Behind every payment, every affordability check, and every account information request, there is a dense web of API interactions. These numbers are not just statistics; they represent a fundamental shift in how financial data moves.

Salt Edge and VeriPark push data-driven customer experiences

That shift is being amplified by strategic investments and integrations. Salt Edge, a leading Open Banking provider, has invested in ad platform Sientia with the goal of turning Open Banking data into personalised customer experiences. The idea is to use financial insights to make marketing and customer engagement more relevant — and more respectful of user privacy. Meanwhile, VeriPark has integrated Caspian’s Open Data capabilities into its customer journey solutions, expanding its ecosystem with agile, secure Open Data features. These moves suggest that Open Banking is evolving beyond payments into a broader open data economy, where banks and fintechs compete on experience, not just access.

Volt powers instant euro deposits for Mitrade

In the trading sector, Mitrade has teamed up with Volt to power instant account-to-account deposits and payouts for EU traders. Using SEPA Instant, Mitrade clients can now fund their trading accounts instantly and receive withdrawals over the same rails. For traders, speed is everything — and this partnership demonstrates how Open Banking can replace slower card-based funding with a seamless, direct alternative. It also highlights the growing appetite for Open Banking beyond traditional banking use cases, from trading to e-commerce to wealth management.

A forward-looking era for open data

Looking ahead, the momentum shows no signs of slowing. With the UK’s milestone payments and API calls, the US seeing new API-first entrants, and Europe embracing instant account-to-account flows, Open Banking is becoming a global standard. The next wave will likely focus on deeper data-sharing frameworks, such as open finance, and on embedding these capabilities into everyday products so seamlessly that users no longer think about them — they just expect them. For incumbents and newcomers alike, the message is clear: the era of open data is already here, and the institutions that embrace it will define the future of finance.