MEDICI’s new ‘Open Banking’ report is a detailed analysis of the Open Banking landscape. Read about the evolution of Open Banking, the regulatory landscape, critical factors affecting the implementation of Open Banking, partnerships, market dynamics, and more!

1. REPORT
Open
Banking
April 2021

2. Major Open Banking initiatives that are
occurring across the globe
UK: Since the EU's PSD2 came into
effect in 2018, regulated third-party
providers (TPPs), such as fintechs,
can integrate with banks' APIs to
access consenting customers' bank
data & offer financial products. Since
the UK left the EU on January 1, 2021,
the country is no longer bound by the
PSD2, meaning it will now chart its
own open banking course separate
from the rest of the EU.
Australia: The Consumer Data
Right (CDR) empowers a consumer,
the right to choose to share their
financial data with the third-party
providers that have been accredited
by ACCC through open APIs. Feb
2022 has been the deadline set for
full data transfer set by Australian
Banking Association.
Details on the listed
countries are available
in the full report
2

3. Critical Factors Affecting
Open Banking Implementation
(1/2)
3
Technology
Consumer
Centricity
Business Deals
and Partnerships
Data Management
and Analytics
Cybersecurity
Risk Management
Regulatory
Framework
Fraud Detection
and Prevention

4. WHITE LABEL PLATFORMS
SPADE
BankingSDK
BaaS
ReactivePay
API STORES
Open
Banking
Players
Segmented
by Business
Models
Note: This is not
an exhaustive list.

5. Popular
Use Cases
of Open
Banking
Account services platforms provide
access to account-related data and
functionalities from financial
institutions to third-party providers.
Account services include account
switching, account aggregation,
account opening, and onboarding.
Account Services
Lending services platforms connect
with financial institutions to provide
lending capabilities such as loan
origination, lead generation,
underwriting, and mortgages. They are
the drivers of Embedded Finance and
enable third-party providers to offer
loans on their platforms to a range of
customers.
Lending Services
Card issuance and infrastructure
platforms enable third-party
providers to start card programs for
their customers. These could be
neobanks offering debit/credit cards
or merchants offering loyalty cards.
They build the back-end rails with
the banks and card platforms to offer
a card infrastructure platform.
Card-Related Services
Payment platforms offer services
such as bank payments, foreign
remittances, B2B payments, and
accepting payments from customers
by linking a merchant’s portal with
those of relevant financial institutions
including banks, card platforms, and
alternate payment platforms.
Payments
Open Banking platforms connect with
investment portals such as banks,
mutual fund distributors, and
exchanges to offer various investment
options to clients of third-party
providers. They also offer data-driven
portfolio management analysis and
alternative credit scoring.
Investment/PFM
These platforms offer functionalities
such as account opening, card
issuance, payments, settlement,
and, in some cases, regulatory
licenses to set up digital banks.
Neobanking
5

6. SEGMENT
Banking-as-a-
Service
FOUNDED
2015
TOTAL
RAISED
$185 Mn
HEADQUARTERS
Berlin, Germany
Solarisbank is a Germany-based Banking-as-a-Service
provider. Along with offering functionalities such as card
issuance, lending, and payments, it also offers its
German banking license for setting up a digital bank.
Some of Germany’s largest neobanks, such as Penta,
Kontist, and Tomorrow, are running on Solarisbank’s
BaaS platform.
Solarisbank bank was set up in 2015 as part of the
finleap Group; it received a banking license in 2016. As of
June 2020, the bank works with 70 companies that have
attracted 400,000 clients in total. Some of its notable
corporate investors include the SBI Group, ABN AMRO
Ventures, BBVA, and Visa.
The company works on a modular structure and lets
clients select the module they want to use based on their
functionality. These use cases could range from running
a trading platform, a used car marketplace that wants to
offer credit, an SME neobank, to even a cryptocurrency
trading platform. Solarisbank is regarded as one of the
premier BaaS providers in the EU region.
Revenue Model
Pay-to-use APIs,
interchange fees on card
transactions, and revenue
sharing on credit interests
Some Open Banking
Customers
Tomorrow, insha, Vivid,
Penta, Kontist, Trade
Republic, Bison, Bitwala
BaaS offerings include digital banking, cards, lending,
payments, KYC, and crypto services
6

7. Global View of Open
Banking Companies and
the Growth in Their
Numbers
Global Heat Map of
Open Banking Companies
Note: The funding analysis is as of April 5th, 2021. We have not
considered API Stores from Traditional/Neobanks/challenger
banks as part of this analysis
Note: The funding analysis is as of April 5th, 2021. We have not considered funding received by API Stores from Traditional/Neobanks/challenger
banks as part of this analysis. This does not include corporate rounds, private equity, and unknown venture series.
4
25
71
90
Africa Asia Americas Europe
Year-Wise Funding (Mn, USD)
2018–April 5, 2021*
602.1
969.7
1,043.5
468.3
35.0
52.0
77.0
18.0
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
0
150
300
450
600
750
900
1050
1200
2018 2019 2020 2021*
Analyzing the funding numbers for any sector helps provide an insight into the interest level of the investor ecosystem in that
sector. More funding translates into more startups, thereby paving the way for greater innovations. We have taken the funding
numbers for the last three years to better understand the growth of the sector. The numbers for 2021 have been compiled to
date including the funding rounds made in March
2020 can be considered a milestone year in the Open Banking sector. Funding numbers rose 73% compared to the
numbers in 2018. Marqeta’s $150 million Private Equity funding that year played a crucial role. In Asia, Razorpay, Zeta, Open
among other firms, raised over $386.9 million in various rounds in the last two years. All these activities highlight Asia as a
growing hotspot for Open Banking. We estimate that the trend of increasing funding will be continued in 2021 as well.
7

8. Partnerships
Many traditional/challenger banks have already realized that they need to act and
are now being proactive in their approach to collaborating with FinTech for Open
Banking. In this report, we have highlighted 32 such partnerships that have
occurred between traditional banks and FinTech. Here are some of the FinTechs
leading the partnership race with banks: Tink, Plaid, Railsbank, Nordic API Gateway,
and Solarisbank. On the other hand, partnerships between FinTech companies
have also increased where segment-specific FinTechs rely on Open Banking
startups for data exchange.
Note: This is not
an exhaustive list
Note: This is not
an exhaustive list
Bank/Neo | FinTech
FinTech | FinTech
8

9. Research
Methodology
The Open Banking Report is a
comprehensive study based on MEDICI’s
proprietary FinTech data on thousands of
startups, deep market intelligence derived
from years of tracking the FinTech
industry, and secondary research. These
were further refined through
brainstorming sessions and in-depth
interviews with segment experts to extract
valuable market signals from the noise,
identify market trends, and develop
points-of-view for the report.
MEDICI has a rich volume of information in
both quantitative and qualitative forms.
This information is curated through our
industry analysis and market engagement
initiatives. In the secondary research
process, we conducted an in-depth study
of the Open Banking segment,
understanding the key players, drivers,
and regulatory initiatives leading to growth
in Open Banking. The key sources referred
to for the secondary research process
spanned across company and industry
reports, press releases, government and
other official sources, national and
international databases, our partners, and
many others that facilitated valuable data-
driven insights.
MEDICI combined primary and secondary
research with insights from experts in the
Open Banking industry. For investment
analysis, we analyzed over 300 Open
Banking companies and down selected
190+ of them based on their business
models and other attributes. For our
analysis, we have only considered
companies that provide white label and
BaaS solutions. The investment analysis
excludes offerings by
banks/neobanks/challenger banks.
The qualitative & quantitative findings and
insights were curated by MEDICI research
analysts to present a comprehensive view
of the segment. These were further refined
through years of thoroughly tracking
industry developments and bringing
together the ecosystem.
9

10. Table of
Contents
Introduction
A Strategic Outlook to Open Banking
Landscape
Investment Analysis
Conclusion
Research Methodology
3
4
13
24
30
33

11. About
MEDICI is the world’s leading FinTech Research and Innovation Platform. MEDICI is a partner to banks, tech companies, and FIs globally with over 13,000 FinTechs on
the platform, enabling FinTechs to scale and create a global economic impact. MEDICI is committed to supporting the complex financial services ecosystem and
enabling stakeholders benefit from the industry’s accelerated growth and global impact.
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Amit Goel
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Giuseppe Marchese
Head of Business Development, Europe
giuseppe@gomedici.com
Authors
Ravi Rathi
Principal, Research
ravi@goMEDICI.com
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Salil Ravindran
Head of Digital Banking & Research
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Chandraditya Gudla
FinTech Strategy and Research
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Sulesh Kumar
FinTech Strategy and Research
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