29 April 2026 | EDFA
On 23 April, EDFA, SweFinTech, Fintech Norway, and Copenhagen Fintech co-hosted a closed-door breakfast in Brussels on the EU’s Financial Data Access (FiDA) framework. The event brought together Members of the European Parliament, European Commission representatives, and industry practitioners for a focused exchange on what it will take to make Open Finance work in practice.
Why Now
Open Finance is not a future scenario. Data is already being shared, aggregated, and monetised across the financial system. The debate is no longer about whether this will happen, but about how: through a coherent framework built on consumer consent, technical standards, and clear accountability – or through fragmented, proprietary integrations that leave consumers with little visibility or control.
The Commission has signalled its intention to support co-legislators in reaching political agreement on FiDA in 2026, with an ambition to deliver a framework that is effective, simple, and proportionate. That window matters. Non-European platforms are already building on European financial data, with limited accountability and no consumer protection embedded in their design. The longer a clear framework is delayed, the harder it becomes to shape the market rather than react to it.
From Principles to Practice: Nordic Use Cases
A central part of the agenda was shifting the conversation from policy principles to market reality. Two companies already operating in the Open Finance space presented live use cases.
Swimbird demonstrated how aggregating transaction and asset data across multiple sources – currently through bilateral agreements with over 35 banks across Europe – can deliver genuine portfolio transparency for banks, asset managers, family offices, and investment firms. The system is live, the integrations work, and the customer demand is real. FiDA would not create this market; it would make it safer, more scalable, and open to a much broader range of players.
Intellitech illustrated how insurance data portability can work in practice: giving consumers real control over their data, reducing switching friction, and enabling more competitive, transparent products. Today, Intellitech relies on web crawling to collect insurance data because bilateral data-sharing agreements with insurers have proven impossible to secure after years of trying. A standardised API framework would transform that overnight.
The message from both was consistent: innovation is not waiting for FiDA. But FiDA will determine whether it scales in a way that is safe, interoperable, and built on consumer trust – or whether that scaling happens outside any European framework entirely.
What Consumers Actually Want
A recurring theme was the need to ground the consumer case in concrete outcomes rather than abstract data rights. Consumers do not want “more data”. They want less friction when switching providers, better overview across their financial life, more relevant products, and fairer pricing. FiDA is a means to those ends.
The economic evidence supports the scale of the opportunity. Analysis of the UK’s Open Banking framework estimates it has already delivered a cumulative consumer benefit of GBP 8.3 billion, with a long-term annual opportunity of up to GBP 43 billion at full maturity¹ – and that covers banking only. Europe’s economy is several times the size of the UK’s, and Open Finance extends well beyond payments into insurance, pensions, and investments. A well-designed, consistently implemented FiDA framework would represent a structural opportunity of a different order entirely.
Speakers
Richard Wachtmeister – Chair, SweFinTech | CEO, Kreditz – Moderator
Florence de Maupeou – Regulations Director, EDFA | Deputy Director General, France FinTech – European and EDFA perspective on FiDA
Peter Orthén – Project Lead, Swimbird AB; EDFA and SweFinTech FiDA Working Group – Use case: investment data aggregation
Henrik Sjølie – CEO, Intellitech; Board Member, Fintech Norway; EDFA FiDA Working Group – Use case: insurance data portability
EDFA’s Work on FiDA
For EDFA, the breakfast was an opportunity to bring a pan-European perspective to a conversation that has largely been shaped by national-level advocacy. Open Finance does not stop at borders, and neither should the policy debate around it.
EDFA’s Open Finance Working Group has been engaged on FiDA since the early stages of the legislative process, feeding member experience and implementation concerns into the policy debate at a point when they can still make a difference.
Our position is straightforward. FiDA should be clear and predictable so the market can build on it with confidence; standardised and scalable to enable cross-border services without bespoke bilateral integrations; proportionate to the operational realities of smaller and specialised players; and grounded in consumer protection and trust, without which adoption will remain shallow.
Read More
Further resources from the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA) on FiDA and open finance.
EDFA Position Paper on FiDA – June 2025
EDFA Response to the FiDA Simplification Proposal – September 2025
Joint Letter: In Defence of FiDA – October 2025
Op-ed: Rolling Out the Red Carpet for American Tech Giants – If FiDA Dies – March 2026
Sources
¹ EY / Open Banking Limited, “Unlocking the Everyday Value Growth Opportunity: Open Banking UK” (2024). Available at: openbanking.org.uk