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Open Banking

Open Banking allows a regulated payment service provider to gain digital access to a payments account, provided the account holder gives their consent. This enables service providers to offer new innovative payment and account information services.

Thanks to the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2, Payment Services Directive), a licensed third party (a payment service provider) can access a payments account free of charge, provided the account holder gives their prior consent. This is also known as Open Banking.

Two important conditions must be met:

  1. The payment service provider must have a license to offer payment initiation or account information services.
  2. The account holder must first give explicit consent to that service provider.

The third party will then be granted free access to the account holder’s payments account with the account manager, usually a bank. Without the account holder’s consent or without a license, the service provider will not be granted access. The account holder can withdraw their consent at any time.

A service provider that wishes to retrieve account data must first make clear what the data will be used for. The data may then only be processed for that purpose.

Transparency and data use

The collective term third party refers to a payment initiation and account information service provider. They can obtain a license for:

  • PSD2 payment service 7, ‘payment initiation service’ or
  • PSD2 payment service 8, ‘account information service’.

These licenses are granted by an authorized supervisory authority within the European Union. In the Netherlands, this is DNB . Banks may also offer these services on the basis of their EU banking license. The DNB register lists all service providers operating in the Netherlands with a license for PSD2 payment service 7 or 8.

The National Forum on the Payment System (NFPS) has drawn up good practices for account information services in the Netherlands.

Berlin Group

Banks have digital ‘gateways’ for third parties to access payments accounts. The Berlin Group(opens in new window) ensures the standardization of these gateways with the NextGenPSD2 API.

The Dutch Payments Association has been closely involved in the development of this framework from the outset. As a result, the NextGenPSD2 standard is now used by all banks in the Netherlands. The association is a member of the Berlin Group and part of the Open Finance working group. Together with our members, we contribute to the further development of European standards for open banking.