Under the PSD2 framework, licensed providers can access bank accounts throughout the EU, but the actual implementation of open banking technology differs significantly across European countries. In contrast, the UK has a unified standard, with the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE, now Open Banking Limited) setting a single technical standard for the CMA9 banks, which serve the majority of personal current accounts.
A Patchwork of Standards
The EU’s approach to open banking has led to a fragmented environment. Each member state has implemented PSD2 into national law independently, resulting in 27 distinct banking ecosystems. This decentralization has supported competition and innovation but also created a complex environment for pan-European adoption. Over 80% of European banks have chosen the Berlin Group standard, which should, in theory, simplify integration for third-party services. However, even within this standard, variations exist, with banks running different versions, such as v1.3 or v1.5, leading to subtle but important differences.
Various frameworks have emerged, such as the Berlin Group, STET, and country-specific standards like the Polish API. Even within these frameworks, banks have flexibility in implementation, leading to inconsistencies in data fields, transaction details, and API versions.
The Challenge of Scaling
This fragmentation poses challenges for open banking providers aiming to scale across Europe. Differences in authentication, error handling, and performance require constant maintenance to ensure a seamless user experience. As a result, many providers focus on regional markets or form partnerships to handle this complexity. While launching open banking in one market can be relatively straightforward, for example in Latvia, where 4 major banks cover the vast majority of personal accounts; scaling across five markets is a different exercise entirely. Depth of coverage matters more than country count – a provider may claim it covers 15 markets but have materially stronger connectivity in only five of them.
The depth of coverage is key, as thin integration in certain markets can lead to user abandonment. For instance, open banking payments may not fully replace cards in some countries, requiring merchants to maintain card acceptance for broader coverage. The number of third party open banking providers has grown from 79 in 2020 to 554 by the end of 2025, reflecting the industry’s expansion.
Read Also: Workplace AI Use Outpaces Corporate Approval Processes
While Europe’s open banking adoption has grown, with 554 third-party providers by 2025, it lags behind more centralized models like the UK. The UK’s single technical standard has facilitated faster adoption, reaching 18.81 million user connections by 2026. Although there is no single pan-European source of data for open banking specifically, markets with strong domestic A2A-based payment methods show rising adoption signals – Spanish Bizum hit 1.237B operations in 2025 (+13.2% YoY), Polish BLIK reached 2.9B transactions, and Sweden’s Swish processed 1.1B payments (+4% YoY).
However, Europe’s fragmentation should not be viewed as a failure. The continent’s institutional architecture has led to a diverse open banking ecosystem, and adoption continues to rise. Domestic payment methods like Spanish Bizum, Polish BLIK, and Sweden’s Swish demonstrate increasing consumer familiarity with open banking concepts. Infrastructure is maturing too: performance is improving and authentication is becoming more user-friendly, while PSD3 discussions address reliability and fraud prevention. Fragmentation reflects Europe’s institutional architecture but not a breakdown of the model itself.
The Role of Infrastructure Providers
Behind this unified interface, infrastructure providers manage the translation of various bank “dialects,” normalize statuses and error codes, handle authentication flows, and monitor performance across hundreds of connections. This abstraction layer shields merchants and consumers from the underlying complexity, ensuring a seamless user experience.
The Path Forward
While Europe’s open banking fragmentation has slowed cross-border scaling compared to centralized models, it has not stalled adoption. The processing of 1.237 billion operations by Spanish Bizum in 2025 exemplifies the growing consumer trust in open banking solutions.