UK Open Banking, explained in plain language

What Open Banking is, who is allowed to access your bank data, how the 90-day consent cycle works, and why it replaced password-sharing.

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Your bank
Holds the data
Runs the consent screen you sign in on.
AISP
Salt Edge
FCA-authorised. Fetches data through the official APIs.
The service you use
BankSync
Never sees your credentials. Reads data, never moves money.
Where it lands
Your sheet or database
Read-only rows, on the schedule you pick.

You sign in on your bank's own page and approve read-only access. Renewal is a quick re-authentication, typically every 90 days.

Open Banking (UK), in short.

Regulator: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
How it works: UK Open Banking is the world's most mature regulated open banking framework, mandated by the CMA in 2018 and supervised by the FCA. BankSync connects through an FCA-authorised open banking provider.
Connection: Connections are made through an FCA-authorised AISP partner.
References: OBIE standards FCA AISP register

A regulated right to your own data.

Open Banking gives you a legal right to share your bank data with regulated services. Banks must publish secure APIs; access is granted on the bank's own consent screen, scoped to what you approve, and revocable at any time. The FCA authorises the companies allowed to use those APIs, and the framework is enforced under the Payment Services Regulations 2017.

Banks, AISPs, and you

Three parties are involved: your bank (which holds the data and runs the consent screen), an AISP (the FCA-authorised intermediary that fetches data through the official APIs), and the service you actually use. BankSync connects through Salt Edge, an authorised AISP, which means BankSync never sees your credentials and can only ever read data, never move money.

The 90-day consent rhythm

UK rules require periodic reconfirmation that you still want data flowing, typically every 90 days depending on the bank. Renewal is a quick re-authentication with your bank. BankSync tracks the expiry date on each connection and prompts you ahead of time so syncs never silently stop.

Open Banking vs screen-scraping

Before Open Banking, tools asked for your online banking password and logged in as you. That breaks most banks' terms, grants full account control, and fails whenever the bank redesigns a page. API access is the opposite: credential-free, read-only, bank-supervised, and stable. BankSync uses regulated APIs exclusively in the UK; see our security page for the full picture.

Use Open Banking data over an API

Read your own UK transactions and balances as JSON over REST or MCP, through the same FCA-regulated connection. See the open banking API →

Questions, answered.

What is UK Open Banking?

Open Banking is the UK framework that requires banks to give regulated third parties secure, read-only access to account data when the account holder consents. It grew out of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) retail banking order and PSD2, and is supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

What is an AISP?

An Account Information Service Provider is a company authorised by the FCA to access account data with your consent. BankSync connects through Salt Edge, an authorised AISP, so your credentials never pass through BankSync and access is read-only by law.

How long does consent last?

Consent duration is set per bank. UK Open Banking typically works on a 90-day reconfirmation cycle under FCA rules, and BankSync shows the expiry on every connection and prompts you to renew before it lapses.

Which UK banks participate?

All CMA9 banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, Nationwide, RBS, Bank of Ireland, AIB) plus neobanks like Monzo, Starling, and Revolut, and most challenger banks. If a bank offers a UK current account, it almost certainly has an Open Banking API.

Is Open Banking safer than sharing my password?

Yes. You sign in on your own bank’s page and grant scoped, read-only, revocable access. Screen-scraping tools instead store your real credentials and log in as you, which most UK banks prohibit in their terms.

Put Open Banking to work.

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