Banks are looking for ways to monetize the sharing of consumer data as open banking regulations are passed across the globe. 

Open banking pushes banks to collaborate with fintechs to share consumer data without friction, Matthijs van Voorst, strategic partnership director at the Netherlands-based $380 billion ABN AMRO Bank, said at the recent FinovateEurope event, noting that with open banking, banks will not only be money custodians, but data custodians too. 

Banks are looking at data-sharing as a new form of revenue, he said. If there is a financial benefit to sharing data with fintechs, banks could be more accepting of open banking. 

“If there are shared mutual incentives, banks and fintechs must collaborate with each other [and] I think there should be incentives for both parties involved to make it a success,” van Voorst said. 

Banks can look to monetize the consumer data they have collected and stored — and sharing that data may come with a fee, van Voorst said. 

Evolving business model

If banks have to share consumer data with fintechs, the business model is likely to evolve, Jose Luis Navarro Llorens, head of open banking strategy at $713 billion BBVA, said. 

Banks don’t want to give up consumer data for free, Navarro Llorens said. Charging fintechs and third-party vendors for access to consumer data can provide banks a source of income. 

Consumers, too, could charge a fee for sharing their data. That is “some years off, [however] some business models are being developed,” Coen ter Wal, director of technology and operations at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, said at FinovateEurope. 

New revenue stream

Mastercard, for one, launched a digital solution Feb. 28 that provides a streamlined and secure method for online account opening through open banking channels, according to a release from the tech giant. 

The card company will provide vendors with account-owner verification, account-detail verification and account-balance check solutions to aid online account-opening processes, the release stated. 

The solution, free to select Mastercard debit and prepaid issuers in the U.S., will be available for a fee to all other vendors, Jess Turner, executive vice president and head of global open banking and API at Mastercard, told Bank Automation News. 

Similar to Mastercard, many “FIs will monetize open banking through the new value creation and operational efficiencies,” Turner said. 

Open banking regulation passed in Europe in 2018 and a proposal in the United States was filed in October 2023. 

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