FIDA International Open Finance Dialogue in October

During the most recent FIDA international open finance dialogue in October we had the pleasure of hosting three exceptional keynote speakers - Heather Xiao (Open Finance and Smart Data ecosystem expert), Ravi Bhalla (Open Finance in FCA & HSBC), and Sarah Häger (COO of Enable Banking). Due to the fast pace of the event, there was not enough time to go through all the questions posted to the speakers, so we’ve asked them to comment on the unanswered questions after the event. Here are their insightful answers. 

  Heather Xiao, Open Finance and Smart Data ecosystem Expert

What can Europe learn from UK in terms of Open Finance adoption? 

Europe can learn from the UK that structured experiment and innovation drive consumer protection in open finance. The FCA helps innovators with a regulator provided sandbox to test real-world ideas with strict safeguards, and hosts hackathons to surface solutions early. These help accelerate open finance adoption while keeping consumers protected. 

What are in your opinion the first industries to form use cases including open finance in their Business models? 

In my opinion open finance can and will power up a large range of industry sectors as part of their business models, as finance stands in between their product provision and customers. The industries I'm aware of are already actively exploring open finance include banking, retail, telecommunications, etc.  

How will SMEs access to finance products be affected by Open Finance and what do you think are the driving forces? 

Open Finance will create much bigger and wider opportunities for SMEs to access finance products including cheaper financing, faster credit decisioning, more personalised lending, insurance products, and will give SME's much better control. 

The driving forces behind are regulatory push, market demand and technology advancement. The regulators are pushing for secure data sharing and consumer's right to their own data, market competition pushes lenders to explore open finance products to attract SME's, better digital products, data products and AI enablement also helps to accelerate open finance products provision. 

  Sarah Häger, COO of Enable Banking

From your experience do you think that a broad data or a use-case focused approach is more beneficial for data schemes to start with? 

Both models have clear strengths and drawbacks depending on where you sit in the value chain. 

A broad data approach gives banks full control of the initial roadmap and allows faster early development without external discussions. The downside is that fintechs only see the MVP once it’s released, which limits early feedback and increases the risk of misalignment with actual market needs. For fintechs, progress may look fast — but it comes with little influence over the design until it’s too late. 

A use-case driven approach creates stronger alignment from the start. Banks know exactly which value pools may be affected and can plan accordingly, while fintechs can help shape prioritisation ahead of regulation. The trade-off is that this route requires more coordination upfront, which can make the early phase feel slower — but typically results in higher ecosystem adoption. 

Imagine a private equity would enter the market of fintechs with regards to open finance and FIDA, how do you think this would affect the behaviour of traditional players and why? 

If private equity enters this market, traditional players would likely adjust their behaviour fairly quickly. PE-backed fintechs tend to move faster, commercialise earlier, and push hard for standardisation to scale efficiently. This puts pressure on incumbents to accelerate their own execution, reduce internal bottlenecks, and become more proactive in partnerships. It would also shift the competitive dynamic: instead of debating whether to open up, the question becomes how fast and with whom. 

Overall, PE involvement usually increases the pace, sharpens the commercial focus, and raises expectations on delivery across the entire ecosystem — including traditional banks. It can fundamentally change markets and behaviours. 

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