Who Is the API Provider in Open Banking? A Clear Guide
Who Is the API Provider in Open Banking?
If you are reading open banking documentation for the first time, "API provider" can be confusing. Banks publish the APIs, yet a long list of fintech companies also describe themselves as open banking API providers. So who is the API provider in open banking, the bank or the fintech?
Both answers are correct, depending on which layer you mean. This guide explains the roles, shows how data and payments flow, and compares the main open banking API providers so you can decide which one fits your product.
The Short Answer
In the strict regulatory sense, the bank is the API provider. The institution that holds the customer's account builds and publishes the APIs that let approved third parties read account data or initiate payments. The UK's Open Banking glossary defines an API provider as a service provider that implements an Open Data API and provides data through an API gateway.
In the commercial sense, open banking API providers are also the aggregators and platforms, such as Plaid, TrueLayer, Tink and Yapily. They do not hold the customer's account. They connect to many banks and give developers one integration instead of hundreds.
To compare payment and banking-related providers side by side, explore TheFinRate's payment gateway reviews.
Who Does What in Open Banking?
Open banking has several named roles, and most of the confusion comes from the acronyms.
| Role | Who they are | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| ASPSP (Account Servicing Payment Service Provider) | Banks and other institutions that hold payment accounts | Publish the APIs and, with customer consent, expose account data and accept payment requests |
| TPP (Third Party Provider) | Authorised companies that use those APIs | Access accounts or initiate payments on behalf of the customer |
| AISP (Account Information Service Provider) | A type of TPP | Gathers account and transaction data into one view |
| PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider) | A type of TPP | Starts a payment directly from the customer's bank account |
| PSU (Payment Service User) | The customer | Gives or withdraws consent |
An ASPSP is the institution that provides and maintains the account and publishes the read and write APIs. A TPP is the party that calls them.
How Open Banking APIs Work
A typical flow looks like this:
- The customer chooses an app, such as a budgeting tool or a checkout using pay by bank.
- The app, acting as a TPP or through an aggregator, redirects the customer to their bank.
- The customer authenticates with the bank and approves a specific permission, such as viewing balances or authorising one payment.
- The bank's API responds, returning data or executing the payment.
- The customer can review or withdraw consent later.
Consent and strong authentication stay with the bank at every step. That is what makes the model different from older screen-scraping approaches.
Types of Open Banking API Providers
Banks as API providers
Each bank maintains its own developer portal and interfaces. Quality and coverage vary, which is the main reason aggregation exists.
Aggregators and open banking platforms
Aggregators connect to many banks and present a single, standardised API. They handle bank-specific quirks, uptime monitoring and often the regulatory permissions. Some focus on account data, some on payments, and many offer both.
Payment-focused providers
These specialise in payment initiation, including pay-by-bank checkout, payouts and recurring bank payments. They are useful when your goal is lower-cost collection from customers instead of data access.
Data-focused providers
These specialise in account information, such as transaction history, identity and income verification, and affordability checks for lenders.
Leading Open Banking API Providers
No single provider is best everywhere. The list below is a starting point, and coverage changes frequently.
| Provider | Typical strength | Main regions |
|---|---|---|
| Plaid | Account data, identity and verification; strong US presence | US, UK, Europe |
| TrueLayer | Pay by bank, payouts and variable recurring payments | UK, Europe |
| Tink | Broad European data and payment coverage; owned by Visa | Europe, UK |
| Yapily | Infrastructure-style API with no consumer interface, suited to white-label use | UK, Europe |
| GoCardless | Bank payments and bank account data across multiple countries | UK, Europe |
| MX | Data aggregation and money-management tooling | US |
| Moneyhub | Enterprise account data with pensions and personal-finance tools | UK |
| Salt Edge | Wide geographic reach through a single integration | Global |
Other names worth reviewing include Token.io, Volt, Finicity and Belvo, depending on your market. Industry comparisons generally suggest shortlisting payment-focused providers for checkout and recurring payments, and data-focused providers for lending and verification, though you should test both against your own requirements.
Regional Differences That Affect Your Choice
UK and Europe. Open banking is driven by regulation, mainly PSD2 in the EU and equivalent rules in the UK. Banks must provide access interfaces, and TPPs must be authorised or work through a provider that is.
United States. The picture is less settled. The CFPB finalised its Section 1033 rule in October 2024, but reports in 2026 indicate that a federal court has blocked enforcement and the agency has reopened the rule for revision. In practice, US open banking still relies heavily on private agreements between banks and aggregators, and questions such as data access fees remain open. Check the current status before you design a product around it.
Other regions. Latin America, Australia and parts of Asia each have their own frameworks, so confirm coverage for every market you serve.
How to Choose an Open Banking API Provider
Start with the use case, then compare providers on these points:
- Use case fit: account data, payment initiation, recurring payments, payouts or verification.
- Bank and country coverage: the share of your customers' banks that actually work, not just the number of banks listed.
- Licensing model: whether the provider operates under its own authorisation and lets you use it, or whether you need your own TPP licence.
- Pricing: per-connection, per-payment or subscription fees, plus costs for production access.
- Developer experience: sandbox access, documentation quality, SDKs and webhook reliability.
- Reliability and support: uptime history, error handling and how bank outages are communicated.
- Data protection and security: consent management, certifications and data retention terms.
If your goal is collecting payments, it also helps to compare open banking options against card and wallet providers. TheFinRate's payment providers directory is a useful place to see how they sit alongside each other.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Treating "API provider" as one thing. Decide whether you need the bank's API, an aggregator, or both.
- Assuming coverage is equal everywhere. Bank interfaces vary in reliability and features.
- Ignoring consent expiry. Many regimes require consent to be refreshed periodically.
- Skipping licensing questions. Confirm who holds the regulatory permissions before launch.
- Choosing on price alone. Failed connections and poor support cost more than a small fee difference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the API provider in open banking?
Technically, the bank or other account-holding institution publishes the APIs. In practice, aggregators and platforms are also called open banking API providers because they offer unified access across many banks.
What is the difference between an ASPSP and a TPP?
An ASPSP holds the customer's account and exposes it through APIs. A TPP is authorised to use those APIs, with the customer's consent, to read data or initiate payments.
Do I need a licence to use open banking APIs?
It depends on the provider's model and your activity. Some providers let you operate under their authorisation, while others require your own. Confirm this in writing with each provider and your legal adviser.
Is open banking only for payments?
No. It also covers account information such as balances and transactions, used for budgeting, lending decisions and verification.
Is open banking available in the US?
Open banking-style services exist in the US through private arrangements, but the federal rule has not settled into force. Check the latest regulatory status before you build.
Final Thoughts
So, who is the API provider in open banking? The bank publishes the interface, and open banking API providers such as aggregators make that interface practical to use at scale. The right choice depends on your use case, target markets and regulatory position, not on which name appears on the most comparison lists. Define your requirements first, test a shortlist in a sandbox, and verify licensing and pricing directly.
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