“Open banking,” as a concept, was initially developed by a UK regulation to foster competition in banking through sharing client data (with their consent) amongst competitors. Today, it is regulated in several most relevant banking jurisdictions. Despite its growing relevance, consensus about the definition of open banking is lacking. This study examines 282 articles on open banking using bibliometric clustering techniques. Moreover, within the 282 articles and applying discourse analysis, we analyze 47 idiosyncratic definitions of open banking to test an integral framework that supports our proposed definition of the concept. Our study contributes to the literature by providing a generalized multidisciplinary definition of open banking. It identifies four main drivers behind the concept: business model change, client data sharing, incorporation of technological companies (fintechs and others), and regulation. These four elements, which should be considered in new regulations in the globalized banking sector, foresee open banking as a critical enabler of a new strategic dynamic in banking.

Open banking is one of the main transformational levers to improve competitiveness in retail banking by enabling client data sharing with third-party providers. This study enhances the traditional Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs with two additional factors, initial trust and social influence, to understand clients’ behavioral intention to adopt open banking. The study analyzes a sample of 553 surveys in Spain, a country with an established open banking regulation (European Union’s Second Payment Services Directive). The proposed model showed robust explanatory capacity ( R2 = 85%). Results show that perceived usefulness, social influence, and initial trust are essential in determining the behavioral intention to embrace open banking. Nevertheless, perceived ease of use plays a minor role, an outcome aligned with current fintech adoption literature. Our study implies that private agents should focus on highlighting the benefits of open banking while policymakers should work on regulatory frameworks to increase clients’ initial confidence.

No abstract