FIDA: The Future of Financial Data Access in Europe – Risks, Opportunities, and Industry Readiness

FIDA: Europe’s Next Big Leap in Open Finance

At FIBE Berlin 2025, experts explored FIDA — the EU’s upcoming Financial Data Access regulation. As the next step beyond PSD2, FIDA empowers individuals and businesses to access and share a broader scope of financial data, including pensions, savings, insurance, and investments. This consent-driven model aims to unlock innovation and personalised services.

What is FIDA?

On 28 June 2023, the European Commission published a Proposal for a regulatory framework for Financial Data Access. It’s aimed at extending open banking principles to a broader range of financial data, including insurance, pensions, savings, and investments. It gives individuals and businesses the right to access and share their financial data securely with third parties, enabling innovation, better financial services, and improved financial planning.

One of the panelists summarised the proposal like this:

“FIDA is essentially the next phase of open finance. It gives everyone — businesses or individuals — the right to access and share financial data generated through their contracts with financial institutions. Think of it as a regulated, consent-based data space where financial transparency and innovation meet.”

That means whether it’s savings, insurance, pensions, or investments — if it’s financial data, FIDA is set to unlock it for better use cases, more personalisation, and smarter decision-making.

FIDA: Between Innovation and Risk

While FIDA promises data-driven growth, panellists flagged challenges. Complex implementation and regulatory overload may stall innovation. As a speaker from DZ Bank put it, “The ‘how’ is crucial — too complex, and we’ll lose momentum.”

Industry Concerns

• Big Tech dominance: Without regulation, bilateral deals will happen anyway — industry-wide standards are needed to create a level playing field.
• Low demand: Demand will only grow if services add real value.
• Tight deadlines: Security concerns are real, but global playbooks can guide safe implementation.

Can FIDA Be an Opportunity?

An angel investor and open finance advocate on the panel pushed back against the fear of stagnation.
“Yes, regulation adds pressure. But FIDA also offers the ecosystem a moment to evolve. The cost doesn’t need to be overwhelming if institutions play their cards right. With smarter APIs and more efficient implementation models, there’s a path forward.”

She pointed out that technologies have matured, API costs are lower, and with strategic design, FIDA can catalyse modernisation across sectors, especially when it comes to creating value through data.
Banks and every other financial institution have to focus on creating greater value, not only because the customer is already expecting this, but also because of the cost of delay — they have to, because if they don’t, somebody else will do it first. Delivering additional value through data is not going to win 1000s of new customers, but banks must do it to retain existing customers.

Another opportunity for financial institutions is the enablement of greater personalisation, which is another strong customer retention mechanism.

Is the Market Ready for FIDA?

A global infrastructure strategist on the panel, was more sceptical:

“Europe isn’t a first mover. Countries like Brazil are already showing how connecting to third-party services via third-party APIs can add value, such as handling claims at lower costs and expanding market reach. Europe must catch up, but it can follow tested playbooks.”

The general consensus? The groundwork is still being laid. Until there’s clarity from the European Commission, most financial players are cautious — waiting before fully committing.

Key Implementation Challenges

As the panel dove into technical realities, the scope of implementation challenges came into focus:

• Legacy Systems: Many financial institutions, especially insurers, still operate on outdated infrastructure.
• Data Pooling: With dozens of IT systems needing updates, the integration task is enormous.
• Governance and Schemes: How will organisations coordinate on standards, consent, and monetisation?
• Monetisation Models: Lessons from PSD2 show that unless stakeholders benefit financially, they won’t prioritise high-quality data sharing.

The Use Cases That Make FIDA Worth It

Despite the hurdles, the panel was energised by FIDA’s potential use cases:

1. Corporate Use Cases
   Retail may be easier to visualise, but FIDA’s real power may lie in B2B:
   “There’s a massive opportunity in corporate finance automation,” according to a senior banking executive from the panel. “Better data-sharing means smoother operations, improved compliance, and new service models.”
   
   As FIDA’s scope expands, the line between SMEs and enterprises will be closely watched, with significant potential on both sides.
   
2. AI-Powered Financial Advice
   “We’re going to see a complete disruption of financial advice,” one panellist explained. “FIDA creates the structured data layer AI needs to personalise planning. Without that, AI in finance is blind.”
   With a comprehensive and standardised data environment, AI tools can offer real-time, tailored insights, improving everything from budgeting to long-term investing.
   
3. Smarter Underwriting
   Banks can reduce risk by using a fuller financial picture.
   
   “If we know you have €200,000 in savings, your risk profile on a €30k loan drops. That benefits both the customer and the bank.”
   
4. The “Financial Home” Concept
   A holistic dashboard showing all financial assets — accounts, pensions, insurances — in one place. While technically possible with open banking, FIDA could finally push this idea into the mainstream.
   
5. Insurance Awareness and Optimisation
   “Most people don’t know their life insurance coverage. FIDA could change that — helping people understand and manage their protection better.”
   
   This isn’t just good for consumers — it opens doors for tailored product offerings and cross-sell opportunities.

Final Thoughts

The FIBE Berlin 2025 panel made one thing clear: FIDA is not a question of if, but how well we implement and leverage it.

Financial institutions should invest more in API architecture, not just because of the upcoming regulation, but also because of the commercial opportunities on the back of it. The industry needs to raise awareness, focus on self-assessment and develop value-generating use cases for their customers. Shaping organisations around data will be an advantage, as compliance will require huge organisational transformation in many financial firms.

FIDA has the potential to turn financial institutions into dynamic data hubs — powering next-gen financial services, smarter advice, better products, and more engaged consumers. The winners will be those who start building now, with vision, agility, and the customer at the centre.