3 min read

From Open Banking to Open Finance: How FIDA is Redefining the European Data Landscape

Written by

Adam Frano

Published on

March 30, 2026

https://andamp-1.webflow.io/blog/from-open-banking-to-open-finance

The European financial sector is moving beyond the foundations laid by PSD2. While the industry has spent years developing solutions for the sharing of payment data, a new legislative framework is set to break down the remaining silos: the Financial Data Access (FIDA) Regulation.

With the EU reaching the final stages of the legislative process in early 2026, we are entering a new era where financial data belongs truly to the customer, not the institution.

Why FIDA Matters: Evolution vs. Expansion

To grasp the scale of this change, it is helpful to look at the transition from "Open Banking" to "Open Finance":

PSD3/PSR: Refines how we handle payments and bank accounts, focusing on security and fraud prevention.
FIDA: Expands this logic to the entire financial portfolio, including savings, investments, pensions, and non-life insurance.

Because FIDA is a Regulation, it will apply directly across the EU. This creates a single "data highway" from Lisbon to Helsinki, removing the technical and legal friction that previously slowed down cross-border financial services.

‍

4 Key Pillars of the FIDA Framework

1. The Universal Data Mandate: FIDA requires "Data Holders" (banks, insurers, and investment firms) to make customer data available to "Data Users" in a standardized, real-time format. For institutions, this isn't just a policy change, it’s a move toward event-driven architecture. Data can no longer sit in static silos; it must be "API-ready" at all times to meet the demand for instant financial snapshots.

2. Financial Data Sharing Schemes (FDSS): Unlike the "free-for-all" nature of early Open Banking, FIDA introduces Schemes. These are industry-led groups that set the technical standards and rules for engagement. Crucially, FIDA allows for reasonable compensation for the cost of providing data. This shifts the IT conversation from "compliance cost" to "infrastructure investment," incentivizing firms to build high-performance, premium APIs that others are willing to pay for.

3. Permission Dashboards: Transparency is the heartbeat of FIDA. All institutions must provide customers with a Permission Dashboard. This interface allows users to see who has access to their data and revoke it instantly. Behind the scenes, this requires a sophisticated Identity and Access Management (IAM) layer that can handle granular, time-bound permissions across a vast array of financial products.

4. The Rise of the FISP: FIDA creates a new category of regulated player: the Financial Information Service Provider (FISP). Only licensed firms that meet strict digital resilience standards (aligned with DORA) can participate. This ensures that the massive influx of data stays within a secure, supervised perimeter, protecting the system from unregulated "screen-scraping" and enhancing overall market trust.

‍

The Roadmap to 2028

Following the final adoption in mid-2026, a 21-to-24-month transition period will begin. By early 2028, the industry must be fully compliant. This window provides a critical opportunity for institutions to move away from legacy "batch" processing and toward the real-time, interconnected systems that the modern customer expects.

FIDA represents the shift from "opening the door" to "building the platform." It is no longer enough to simply hold customer data; institutions must now be able to move it securely and efficiently. For the financial sector, the next two years are about more than just compliance. They are about becoming a core node in a new, fully digital European economy.

‍

Let &amp be your partner

As the transition to Open Finance begins, the challenge lies in bridging the gap between legacy databases and these new real-time mandates.
Our on-demand IT squads are ready to help you "wrap" your existing databases and turn regulatory challenges into seamless solutions.
Let’s talk!

‍

Sources: