April 10, 2025
The FCA’s 2030 Vision: The Time to Deliver Is Now
Martijn Bos
Head of Policy, Europe
The FCA has laid down a challenge, and it’s one the UK financial services industry can’t afford to ignore. Its new 2025–2030 strategy is bold, directional, and ambitious. More than a document about regulatory housekeeping, it reads as a manifesto for the future of finance in the UK—where smart data, flexible payments, and personalised financial services aren’t just aspirational, but expected.
Over 11 million people in the UK now use open banking to manage their finances, and more than 24 million payments are made each month using this framework. Yet despite these clear foundations, many still wonder if open banking can truly change the way people and businesses experience finance. Our answer, a resounding yes, is amplified by the FCA’s: soon. Very soon. And it’s calling on the entire ecosystem—banks, fintechs, payment service providers, and policymakers—to move faster, think bigger, and deliver on the promise.
That promise is not just about connectivity or APIs. It’s about giving people more control over how they move, manage, and make decisions with their money. It’s about creating a financial system that works more like the internet—open, responsive, interoperable—and less like the siloed, product-centric world we’ve inherited. Now, with the regulator backing that vision with serious intent, the conditions are right to make it real.
VRP (Variable Recurring Payments) acceleration
One of the most important pieces of this puzzle is Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs). These are poised to transform the way recurring payments happen—allowing users to authorise smart, flexible payment mandates that update in real-time, adjust to usage, and give far greater control than traditional direct debits. For businesses, it means lower processing costs and richer payment options. For consumers, it means more transparency and fewer surprises. But delivering VRPs at scale requires infrastructure, commercial models, and regulatory clarity—all of which the FCA has pledged to accelerate. A welcome shift from the previous, more cumbersome consultation model.
Beyond Open Banking to Open Finance
Open finance unlocks a future where access to financial data expands across pensions, investments, savings, credit, insurance, and mortgages. This isn’t just a data play—it’s a consumer-empowerment revolution. One in which a person could view their entire financial life in one place. In which small businesses could access better lending rates thanks to real-time financial visibility. In which platforms could offer hyper-personalised, permissioned advice tailored to life events, goals, and risks.
The FCA’s strategy sets a clear timeline. Within a year, it plans to publish a roadmap for rolling out Open Finance, with the first regulatory foundations in place by 2027. For many firms, that timeline requires action now: building secure data-sharing infrastructure, shaping consent journeys, engaging with API standards, and most critically, identifying use cases that create real value for end users.
The FCA’s new approach: innovation, risk, and the consumer-first future
The FCA is reshaping its approach to provide a smarter, more efficient regulatory approach. Faster authorisations. Less red tape for those doing the right thing. And a clear willingness to back innovation with support, not just scrutiny. It’s investing in its own digital capabilities, reducing the burden of reporting, and committing to earlier, clearer communication with firms. For those building the future of finance, that’s a significant shift in tone and opportunity.
But this isn’t just about enabling tech, it’s about rebalancing risk. Financial innovation has long been stifled by a fear of failure. The FCA is shifting that mindset, advocating for informed risk-taking rather than risk elimination. That message is as much cultural as it is procedural: it’s an invitation to experiment, pilot, iterate, and evolve.
But none of this matters unless real people benefit. Open Banking and Open Finance promise a system that simplifies complexity, enables fairer deals, and gives consumers greater control. Financial products need to work around people, not the other way around.
That’s where Consumer Duty comes in. It sets the bar higher. Firms must not only meet regulatory expectations—they must deliver good outcomes. They must test, monitor, and evidence that their services work for the people who use them. This means data-sharing innovations like VRPs and Open Finance tools need to be intuitive, inclusive, and transparent. It’s not enough to build the infrastructure, we have to make it usable.
The future requires actions
For fintechs, it’s time to move beyond proof of concept and into production-grade impact. For incumbent banks, it’s time to stop treating open banking as a compliance box-tick and start embedding it into core strategy. For third-party providers, it’s time to explore commercial models that can support premium services without compromising consumer access.
The next five years will define the UK’s digital financial future. The question is no longer if Open Finance will be delivered—but how boldly it will take shape.