Open banking in 60 seconds
Open banking is a regulatory and technical framework that allows third-party providers to access bank account data and initiate payments on behalf of customers, with the customer's explicit consent. It started in the UK with PSD2 in 2018 and has since spread to Europe, Australia, Brazil, and now Africa.
The core principle is that your financial data belongs to you, not to your bank. If you want to share your transaction history with a budgeting app, or allow a payment service to initiate transfers from your bank account, your bank must provide a secure API for that purpose.
Where Africa stands today
Africa's open banking journey is at different stages depending on the market:
Nigeria: The Central Bank of Nigeria published its Operational Guidelines for Open Banking in Nigeria in late 2025, building on the regulatory framework first introduced in 2023. The guidelines define four tiers of data access, from basic customer information (Tier 1) to full transaction initiation (Tier 4). CBN-licensed fintechs can now apply for API access to participating banks.
Ghana: Ghana's Bank of Ghana was the first African regulator to publish a formal open banking framework, in Q4 2025. The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) is building the central API gateway that will connect banks and third-party providers.
Kenya: The Central Bank of Kenya is developing open banking regulations, with draft guidelines expected by mid-2026. Kenya's fintech ecosystem, anchored by M-Pesa, is already highly interconnected, but formal open banking standards will bring consistency and consumer protection.
South Africa: The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has signaled intent but has not published formal open banking regulations. However, several South African banks have launched their own API marketplaces, creating a de facto open banking environment.
What this means for businesses
Open banking creates new possibilities for businesses that accept payments or need access to financial data:
- Account verification: Instead of asking customers to upload bank statements, you can verify their account ownership and balance in real time through the bank's API. This is faster, more accurate, and reduces fraud.
- Payment initiation: Instead of relying on card networks or generating bank transfer instructions, you can initiate payments directly from a customer's bank account. This can be cheaper than card payments and faster than traditional bank transfers.
- Financial insights: With customer consent, you can access transaction history to provide lending decisions, budgeting tools, or financial planning services. This is particularly valuable in markets where credit bureau data is limited.
- Recurring payments: Open banking can enable more reliable recurring payments by allowing direct debits initiated through the bank's API, with stronger customer authentication than traditional standing orders.
Open banking does not replace existing payment methods. It adds a new layer of capability that makes existing flows faster, cheaper, and more transparent.
Challenges to watch
Open banking in Africa will not follow the exact path it took in Europe. Several factors make the African context unique:
Infrastructure readiness. Many African banks run on legacy core banking systems that were not designed for API access. Building reliable, performant APIs on top of these systems is a significant technical challenge. In Nigeria, several banks have already struggled with API uptime during the early pilot phase.
Consumer awareness. For open banking to work, consumers need to understand and trust the consent process. In markets where digital literacy varies widely, designing consent flows that are both legally compliant and genuinely understood by users is critical.
Data privacy. Nigeria's NDPR and other African data protection regulations provide a baseline, but the intersection of data protection and open banking creates new questions. How long can a third party retain account data? What happens when consent is revoked? These details are still being worked out.
Mobile money integration. In many African markets, mobile money is more prevalent than traditional banking. Open banking frameworks that only cover bank accounts will miss a significant portion of the financial ecosystem. Kenya and Ghana are exploring how to include mobile money operators in their open banking frameworks.
Crezaro's approach
We are building open banking connectors that will allow our merchants to:
- Verify customer bank accounts in real time during onboarding
- Initiate payments directly from customer bank accounts (reducing reliance on card networks)
- Access transaction data (with consent) for credit scoring and financial analysis
- Support recurring payments through bank-initiated direct debits
Our first open banking integrations will cover Nigerian banks participating in the CBN framework, followed by Ghanaian banks through the GhIPSS gateway. We expect to have beta access available in Q2 2026.
Open banking represents one of the most significant shifts in African financial services in a decade. It will create winners and losers, and the businesses that move early will have a meaningful advantage. If you want to be among the first to integrate open banking capabilities, reach out to our team.