Open Banking in France: current situation and drivers of change

Open banking established itself with PSD2. Where do we stand in 2025, and what levers should be activated to scale?

Co-written with Powens and fueled by real-world use cases observed by Sopra Steria, this guide delivers a factual snapshot of the open banking market and the pace of open banking innovation: adoption levels, differences between account information services (AIS) and payment initiation services (PIS), the use cases that are already performing (cashback, savings/aggregation, accounting automation) and those that are gaining momentum (credit scoring in the BNPL/DCC2 era, “composable” onboarding journeys).

For a broader view of customer expectations and digital banking experience standards, also see our Digital Banking Experience Report 2025, which complements this white paper with UX benchmarks and investment priorities.

We also analyze the current barriers (API quality, trust, economic incentives) and the impact of upcoming regulatory changes (PSD3/PSR, FIDA).

White paper table of contents 

Part 1: Adoption – encouraging but uneven growth; offer-side and trust barriers that must be addressed

Part 2: Three main families of open banking use cases dominate today

Loyalty and cashbackSavings and investmentAccounting and business finance management

Part 3: Several new open banking use cases are emerging

  • Credit scoring
  • Service onboarding: towards seamless, interconnected journeys
Example 1: Mobility journeyExample 2: E-commerce journey

Use cases that are still marginal today, but carry strong future potential

 

What you’ll find in the white paper

  • The real state of open banking adoption in France: where AIS and PIS stand today, and what that means for your product & IT roadmap.
  • The 3 use cases that currently generate the most value: loyalty & cashback, savings/aggregation & investment, SME accounting & cash management — with concrete player examples and business models.
  • New growth levers: real-time credit scoring and “composable” onboarding journeys that increase conversion.
  • Pay by Bank: how banks are taking back ownership of the payment experience, reducing costs, and securing checkout.
  • Key barriers to remove in France: API quality and reliability, and user trust — with actionable guidance on reassurance strategies and consent design.
  • What’s coming next: DCC2 in the short term, then PSD3/PSR with mandatory permission dashboards.

Want data, real-world use cases, and insights from major industry players? Download the white paper to access the full analysis.

How does open banking work? Where is adoption today?

Open banking is structured around two core services:

  • AIS, or Account Information Service: an open banking service that, with the user’s consent, aggregates bank account information (balances, transaction history) via banking APIs.
  • PIS, or Payment Initiation Service: an open banking payment initiation service that allows a third-party provider to trigger a transfer (e.g. SEPA) directly from the user’s account.

As of June 2025, 4.1 million accounts were connected through Powens. AIS volumes are growing fast, while PIS is still lagging in terms of user experience.

In the FinTech 100 2025, nearly 40% of players already integrate open banking. Yet mass-market adoption is still gradual: mobile payments benefited from massive marketing investment, while open banking has mostly been pushed by fintechs, with uneven API quality on the bank side.

Trust is a key barrier for mainstream adoption: 62% of French consumers refuse to share banking data without stronger guarantees. This is why a clear and user-friendly “permission dashboard” is critical, allowing users to manage who can access their financial data.

Open Banking API Use Cases

A large share of connected accounts is used for this. By accessing banking transaction data, players (e.g. Joko, Naomi, …) can detect a purchase and automatically allocate a reward with no action required from the customer.

What began as personal budgeting apps for consumers (Linxo / Bankin) has evolved. Wealth aggregation platforms like Finary, savings coaches (Bitstack, Cashbee), and tools for financial advisors (wealth managers or retail banking advisors) already leverage AIS to deliver a richer, more automated, more unified customer experience.

Open banking APIs are used to automate repetitive finance tasks: bookkeeping entries, cashflow forecasting, invoicing and payment reminders with players such as Pennylane, Tiime, and others.

The future of open banking: new use cases are emerging

Open banking enables a more accurate and more inclusive assessment of creditworthiness (income, expenses, financial behavior), with scoring engines such as Algoan and, for very small businesses and SMEs, players like Defacto.

 The Consumer Credit Directive 2 (DCC2) requires systematic assessment of repayment capacity before granting any form of credit, including BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later).

  • API aggregation enables end-to-end customer journeys:
  • Mobility: leasing + dynamic insurance + maintenance
  • E-commerce: BNPL + insurance + cashback

 All in real time, with no re-entry of data, and with explicit user consent.

 Banks have historically treated Open Banking mainly as a compliance requirement, rather than as a source of customer value — which means that not all banking apps and portals deliver the same level of quality.

In practice, AIS journeys show a high success rate, while PIS remains fragile. This weakens account-to-account payment flows and limits the user experience.

On top of the technical friction, there is still a trust gap among French consumers, which slows down the adoption of open banking services.

  
The challenge is no longer just opening up data. It’s about building trust, streamlining user journeys, and proving that data access can generate new, high-value services for customers

Mung Ki Woo

Chief Operating Officer, Financial Services, Sopra Steria

In France, open banking is reaching a new stage. Download the white paper to access full analysis, understand the open banking future in concrete terms, discover the use cases that are already creating value, and align your 2026–2027 roadmap with measurable business impact.

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About our partner - Powens

Powens is one of Europe’s leading Open Finance platforms.
They enable banks, fintechs, lenders, and software vendors to access, with their users’ consent, data from bank accounts, savings, credit, insurance, and investment products.
Their API connects more than 1,800 financial institutions across Europe, combining access to financial data with embedded payment solutions to automate both collections and payouts.
They simplify financial complexity so their clients can launch and scale services faster, while ensuring compliance, security, and performance.

Learn more about Powens

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