Why Open Finance is becoming core infrastructure, not a feature
Open Finance is often positioned as a feature. Something to add. Something to enable. Something to experiment with. That framing is already outdated.
Across MENA, Open Finance is becoming core infrastructure, embedded into how payments are made, credit is assessed, and financial services are delivered.
From feature to foundation
In its early stages, Open Banking was introduced through specific use cases. Account aggregation. Payment initiation. Income verification.
These were important, but they were treated as standalone capabilities, layered on top of existing systems. That approach has already shifted, and the evidence is in the markets where Open Banking matured first.
In the UK, following PSD2 implementation, Monzo and Starling built current accounts natively on open infrastructure. Klarna integrated Open Banking affordability assessments, reducing time-to-decision from days to minutes. HMRC embedded Open Banking into tax payment flows. The UK now has over 15 million active Open Banking users, nearly a third of all UK adults.
Open Banking payment volumes in Europe surpassed data access volumes for the first time in 2023, and 94% of EU licensed banks now comply with PSD2 API requirements. These are not feature adoption metrics. They are infrastructure adoption metrics.
Why infrastructure matters
Features can be added or removed. Infrastructure defines how everything works. When Open Finance is treated as infrastructure:
Payments move through lower-cost, real-time rails
Data flows continuously, not in static snapshots
Risk models evolve with live financial behaviour
Onboarding becomes instant and verifiable
The impact is not incremental. It is structural.
What is driving the shift
Three factors are accelerating this transition across GCC.
1. Regulatory clarity
The GCC now has three distinct but coordinated frameworks.
Bahrain's CBB launched the region's first Open Banking framework in 2018. Saudi Arabia's SAMA followed in 2022, expanding to payment initiation in 2024. The UAE's CBUAE issued its Open Finance Regulation in 2024, covering banking, insurance, and investment, with mandatory bank participation and standardised APIs through a centralised hub.
2. Bank readiness
APIs are more stable and consistent, particularly in the UAE. The CBUAE's centralised model mandates uniform APIs from all licensed banks. No fragmentation. No inconsistency. Integration is predictable and scalable.
3. Commercial pressure
Businesses are prioritising cost efficiency, risk optimisation, and conversion. Open Banking directly addresses all three.
This combination moves Open Banking from innovation to necessity.
Where this shows up first
The shift is already visible in key areas:
Payments
Account-to-account rails are reducing reliance on cards and improving settlement speed.
Lending
Real-time cash flow data is replacing static credit models. UK lenders using Open Banking data report 40–60% reductions in manual underwriting effort and materially lower default rates - a trajectory now visible in early GCC adopters.
Onboarding
Instant account verification reduces friction and increases conversion. Onboarding drop-off rates using traditional micro-deposits can be as high as 49%. With instant account verification via Open Banking, that drops to as low as 1%.
In each case, Open Finance is not an add-on. It is the mechanism enabling the outcome.
The risk of treating it as a feature
Organisations that continue to treat Open Finance as a feature tend to:
Isolate it within specific use cases
Underutilise available data and capabilities
Miss out on compounding efficiency gains
More importantly, they struggle to scale. Because features solve individual problems. Infrastructure compounds value across the entire system.
The direction of travel
As adoption increases, the distinction will become clearer. Organisations building around Open Finance as infrastructure will operate with:
Lower cost bases
Better risk visibility
Faster, more seamless user journeys
Those that don’t will face increasing competitive pressure. The shift is already underway. Open Finance is no longer something you add - it is something you build on.
To learn more about how Spare can help you build on Open Finance,
reach out to hello@tryspare.com.