UK Open Banking payments volume doubles in H1 2023 to reach new record

The volume of Open Banking payments in the UK doubled in the first half of 2023, compared to the first six months of 2022, with a record 9.7 million payments made in June, according to Open Banking Limited (OBL).

The latest Open Banking Impact Report has revealed that the more than nine million Open Banking payments made in June 2023 was an 88% increase on the same month last year.

With 3.8 million consumers and businesses having made an Open Banking payment in June, it means the average user made 2.6 payments that month.

OBL has recorded further growth since the June cut-off point for its report, with 10.8 million payments made in August this year.

Given that payments are driving overall usage of Open Banking, with June 2023 representing the highest penetration ever at 5.9%, OBL expects payment penetration to overtake data penetration.

For the first time, OBL used enhanced data from Pay.UK in its report, which showed that the average transaction value of Open Banking payments is around £450, taking the total monthly value to around £4.5 billion.

Since the last Open Banking Impact Report, using data up to December 2022, there has been 10% growth in retail users and a 5% growth in business users of Open Banking.

Despite this, OBL reported that business penetration remained higher at 17%, compared to 11% among consumers.

Marion King, chair and trustee of Open Banking Limited

OBL chair and trustee, Marion King, said: “It is exciting to see the increased adoption of Open Banking. The latest data shows this has been driven by payments, alongside the emergence of new providers and innovative products which help consumers and SMEs to budget and save in smarter and more effective ways.”

King added: “While significant progress has been made, there is still more to do to optimise the full benefits of Open Banking within retail banking markets, and beyond.”

The latest data also revealed there were 151 fully-regulated firms with live-to-market Open Banking-enabled products and services by June 2023.

Euan Ballantyne, head of product at Pay.UK, said: “2022 saw significant growth in the number of Open Banking transactions processed over the Faster Payments System.

“The high percentage of growth rates highlight that we can expect ‘Pay by bank’ and variable recurring payments for sweeping to be a significant source of immediate payments as we look ahead to the rest of 2023 and beyond.”