Oxford study to shape UK's future open finance regime

Raidiam and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford are conducting research commissioned by the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Smart Data Accelerator on infrastructure options for a future UK open finance and smart data regime.

The programme will design and compare alternative infrastructure, technology and governance models that could underpin open finance in the UK. It will produce architectural models for testing in the FCA Innovation Department's Digital Sandbox using synthetic datasets.

The research will be led independently by Professor Pınar Özcan, Director of the Oxford Future of Finance and Technology Initiative, and Researcher Kyeyoung Shin. Saïd Business School will run the programme, using global benchmarking, stakeholder engagement and structured architectural modelling.

Open finance is widely viewed as the next phase after open banking. It extends regulated data sharing, with customer consent, beyond current accounts and payments to other financial products. In the UK, the debate has also expanded to "smart data", which applies similar principles to other sectors and products where consumers and small firms generate data that can be shared under defined rules.

Four workstreams

The research will examine four areas that shape the operation of an open finance ecosystem. The first focuses on infrastructure and standardisation, including ecosystem rails, APIs, interoperability and resilience.

The second examines technology choices, including agentic AI, blockchain and distributed ledger technology, and what the parties described as quantum readiness.

The third covers trust and consent frameworks, looking at consumer control, ethical data use and data assurance, while the fourth addresses governance and liability frameworks.

Infrastructure design choices have become a central issue for policymakers and market participants as they consider a move from open banking to broader data sharing. Identity frameworks, accreditation models, trust anchors, consent representation and standards governance can influence who participates, how risk is monitored and how responsibility is assigned when something goes wrong.

Testing models

The programme is expected to develop multiple architectural models, including centrally coordinated models, federated interoperability models and hybrid approaches.

Each model will set out technical components that can be simulated in the FCA Digital Sandbox. The work will also identify integration considerations, operational dependencies and testing parameters.

Raidiam will provide technical input based on its work on regulated data-sharing ecosystems. John Heaton-Armstrong will lead the team translating conceptual designs into blueprints for sandbox testing.

Raidiam is the FCA's technical delivery partner for Smart Data Sprints and works on open data initiatives in markets including Australia, Brazil and the UAE. Its systems process more than 12 billion API calls each month.

Barry O'Donohoe, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Raidiam, linked the work to the UK's broader direction in regulated data sharing.

"As the UK considers the evolution from open banking to broader open finance and smart data regimes, infrastructure choices will shape market participation, resilience and consumer protection for years to come. We are pleased to support Saïd Business School and the FCA's Smart Data Accelerator by contributing implementation insight from regulated ecosystems, helping ensure proposed models are both technically credible and capable of structured testing," said Barry O'Donohoe.

The Oxford research team described the work as providing options for regulator-led experimentation, drawing on international comparisons and stakeholder engagement.

"The UK is at a pivotal moment in the development of open finance. This research will compare alternative infrastructure and governance configurations, drawing on international experience and stakeholder engagement, to provide the FCA with evidence-based options for experimentation and future policy development," said Professor Pınar Özcan.

The research will run to the end of March 2026, with a final report due at the end of that month.