For years, Open Banking was framed as a technical revolution. APIs opened. Data flowed. Payments moved faster. Fintech innovation accelerated.

On paper, it worked.

But access alone does not build trust.

We are now entering a second phase. One where the competitive advantage is no longer about who can connect accounts fastest, but about who can make customers feel safest. Open Banking 2.0 is not about infrastructure. It is about experience. It is about consent, control, and confidence.

And for financial product leaders, that shift is strategic.

What Is Open Banking 2.0?

Open Banking 1.0 focused on access. It removed technical barriers that once prevented customers from securely sharing financial data with third parties. The ecosystem expanded quickly. Challenger banks scaled. Aggregation apps flourished. Embedded finance became mainstream.

Open Banking 2.0 represents a deeper evolution.

It is the move from enabling data access to enabling data agency. It shifts focus from connectivity to clarity, from compliance to control. As the industry moves toward broader Open Finance frameworks and regulatory changes under PSD3, the expectation is no longer just secure sharing. It is transparent, manageable, revocable sharing.

Customers are no longer passive participants in financial data exchange. They are becoming active managers of their permissions.

This is not a subtle shift. It redefines how financial products should be designed.

Why Consent Design Now Matters More Than Access

When Open Banking launched, speed and simplicity were critical. Reducing friction in onboarding became a competitive priority. The faster a user could connect an account, the better the conversion metrics looked.

But something happened along the way. Consent became compressed into a moment. A tap-through screen. A necessary checkbox.

And yet trust, in financial services, is not built in a moment.

According to research from PwC, nearly 87% of consumers say they will take their business elsewhere if they do not trust how a company handles their data. At the same time, surveys consistently show that many users do not fully understand what they have agreed to when sharing financial information.

That gap is the opportunity, and the risk.

When customers do not feel fully informed, hesitation creeps in. Engagement softens. Retention weakens. In a market where switching costs are low and alternatives are plentiful, trust becomes the differentiator.

At industry events, the conversation is increasingly centred on responsibility, transparency, and long-term customer confidence. The industry understands how to move money. Now it must prove it can protect trust.

The UX Risks of Poor Permission Flows

Poor consent design rarely creates immediate backlash. Instead, it creates quiet friction.

Revocation hidden in submenus.

Permissions written in legal density.

No visibility into when data is accessed or how often.

Over time, these design choices compound into reputational vulnerability.

The Financial Conduct Authority has repeatedly highlighted transparency and consumer understanding as central to the future of data-sharing regulation. As scrutiny increases, organisations that treat consent as a technical requirement rather than a product experience expose themselves to unnecessary risk.

There is also a commercial cost.

Research across fintech onboarding journeys shows that trust-related friction can significantly impact completion rates. Even minor uncertainty during financial onboarding can lead to measurable drop-off. When users hesitate at the point of data sharing, recovery is difficult.

Open Banking 2.0 demands that we design for reassurance, not just efficiency.

How to Design Financial Products That Build Trust

Designing for consent and control does not mean overwhelming users with information. It means structuring experiences so that clarity feels natural.

Well-designed consent experiences typically prioritise:

  • Plain language that explains the purpose, scope, and frequency of access
  • Visible dashboards that show active permissions
  • Simple revocation
  • Activity transparency that reassures rather than alarms

But beyond mechanics, it is about mindset.

Consent should not be a conversion hurdle to overcome. It should be a confidence moment to reinforce.

In highly regulated environments, we have seen how thoughtful product design can transform complexity into calm. Whether in healthcare operations or financial systems, the most effective digital products share a common trait: they quietly reduce anxiety. They make complex processes feel handled. They replace uncertainty with visibility.

That is the discipline Open Banking 2.0 requires.

It is not about adding more screens. It is about designing an experience that makes users feel in control long after onboarding ends.

Is Your Open Banking Strategy Ready for Open Finance?

Open Banking was only the beginning.

Open Finance will expand data sharing beyond current accounts into pensions, investments, insurance, and other financial assets. The number of data types will grow. The number of integration points will multiply. The complexity of consent will increase.

If permission flows are already stretched under Open Banking, they will struggle under Open Finance.

Forward-thinking organisations are already asking harder questions:

  • Can customers easily see what they have agreed to?
  • Can they modify permissions without fear?
  • Does our architecture support evolving regulation?
  • Are we optimising short-term conversion at the expense of long-term trust?

These are not technical questions alone. They are strategic product questions.

At Sonin, we believe building the right product means looking beyond integration and toward impact. It means understanding behavioural trust as deeply as technical capability. It means designing digital experiences that feel safe, structured, and future-ready.

The next phase of Open Banking will not be won by those who can access data fastest.

It will be won by those who design for control.

As embedded finance becomes increasingly invisible inside everyday products, the defining question for financial leaders is simple:

When your customers share their data, do they feel informed or exposed?