The United Kingdom's open banking ecosystem is preparing for its most consequential structural transformation since its founding mandate was issued nearly a decade ago. Ezechi "Ez" Britton has been named independent chair of the steering group responsible for designing the country's new open banking standard setter — an entity that will assume the core regulatory and operational functions currently held by Open Banking Limited and set the architecture for the next generation of account-to-account finance across Britain.

The body at the centre of this transition, provisionally referred to as the Future Entity, will absorb OBL's responsibilities across standard-setting, performance monitoring, directory management, and certification. Crucially, it will operate as a dedicated non-profit organisation under the direct oversight of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a structural arrangement made possible by secondary legislation under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. That statute equips the FCA with explicit statutory powers to supervise the permanent, industry-funded organisation as it inherits OBL's legacy roles — a clean regulatory handoff that closes a long-standing governance gap.

Why the CMA9 Framework Has Run Its Course

To understand why this transition matters, it is necessary to return to the origins of UK open banking. The original framework was constructed in direct response to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)'s 2017 retail banking market investigation order, which compelled the nine largest current account providers — collectively known as the CMA9 — to build standardised, secure application programming interfaces (APIs) enabling authorised third parties to access customer account data and initiate payments with explicit consent. The Open Banking Implementation Entity, subsequently renamed Open Banking Limited, was created to execute that directive. It was a compliance-driven solution to a competition problem, not a commercial market infrastructure designed for scale.

The market, however, scaled regardless. Active monthly users of UK open banking have now exceeded 11 million — a figure that exposes the growing mismatch between a framework legally anchored to nine incumbent banks and a vibrant ecosystem that has long since extended far beyond that original perimeter. The CMA order was never designed to govern a mature, commercially diverse payments infrastructure, and its structural limitations have become increasingly apparent as fintechs, payment service providers, and data-driven services built complex dependencies on the underlying rails.

A Coalition of Over 30 Institutions Shapes the Blueprint

OBL is currently serving as a neutral coordinator throughout the design phase, convening a working coalition of more than 30 banks, fintechs, and payment service providers. That group is tasked with producing a comprehensive blueprint spanning the Future Entity's operational scope, governance architecture, technical capabilities, and long-term funding mechanism — the four pillars that will determine whether the new body commands the industry confidence necessary to fulfil its mandate. Britton, as chair of the Future Entity Design Steering Group, will oversee the key decisions during this critical transitional window.

His appointment carries considerable weight. Britton was the founding chief executive of the government-backed Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), an organisation launched in the wake of the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech — itself one of the most influential policy documents shaping Britain's financial technology strategy in recent years. Before stepping down from CFIT, he co-founded the venture builder Collectively Better and previously co-founded the fintech Neyber. His career spans software engineering and venture capital, and in 2022 he was awarded an MBE for services to diversity and young people. It is a profile that blends institutional credibility with entrepreneurial instinct — precisely the combination the design process demands.

Variable Recurring Payments and the Road to Open Finance

The timing of the Future Entity's establishment coincides with a critical inflection point in the evolution of open banking's commercial model. The market is pushing decisively past static data sharing toward real-time, account-to-account (A2A) infrastructure, and the Future Entity's standards framework will be central to that shift.

At the heart of this commercial expansion are Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs). The first generation of VRP capability — sweeping — allowed automated transfers between a customer's own accounts. Commercial VRPs (cVRPs) extend that rail significantly further, enabling recurring bill payments, utility subscriptions, and e-commerce checkouts to run over direct bank-to-bank infrastructure. In the utility sector specifically, cVRPs enable direct debiting based on exact monthly meter readings rather than fixed estimates, protecting consumer liquidity while simultaneously eliminating card network interchange fees for billers. The cost and transparency advantages are material for both sides of the transaction.

By establishing standardised interface rules and technical uptime benchmarks, the Future Entity is designed to provide the regulatory clarity that commercial cVRP adoption has lacked. Beyond payments, the new body is also intended to serve as the structural backbone for extending data sharing into broader open finance verticals — pensions, insurance, and wealth management — verticals that have long awaited the governance infrastructure that would give participants the confidence to build on them at scale.

What This Means for the Industry

The appointment of Britton and the formalisation of the Future Entity design process represent more than an administrative upgrade to UK open banking's governance. They signal a deliberate political and regulatory commitment to treat open banking not as a compliance artefact of a 2017 market investigation, but as a permanent, commercially viable piece of national financial infrastructure. The FCA's statutory role, the industry-funded non-profit structure, and the breadth of the 30-plus institution coalition all point toward a body with genuine longevity and regulatory legitimacy. Whether the Future Entity can translate that mandate into the technical standards and commercial momentum the market requires will depend heavily on how Britton and the steering group navigate the competing interests of incumbents and challengers over the months ahead. The blueprint they deliver will shape the trajectory of UK open finance for years to come.

Written by the editorial team — independent journalism powered by Codego Press.