2025: Open banking in the mainstream in Europe

Zak Lambert
Head of Product, Europe

Reflecting on 2025, it’s impossible not to feel energised by what the past twelve months have meant for Plaid in Europe. Over the past year, open banking officially shifted from emerging technology to critical infrastructure. With open banking payments soaring by 53% year on year in the UK, more companies now realise that open banking needs to be a core part of their payment strategy. As a result, we saw 55% year-over-year increase in new customer growth, joining forces with companies like Zilch, Raylo, Lightspeed, and Squarespace to streamline payments and money movement for people across the UK and Europe. 

Powering Europe’s shift to modern payments

Europe continued to accelerate to Pay by Bank dramatically this year, and our product adoption reflects that trend: 

• 265% increase in the number of payments

• 150% growth in total payment value 

Open banking payments have moved well beyond basic compliance requirements. Today, conversion, reliability and predictability drive success and real growth for businesses.  Throughout 2025, we improved our products to make sure its as easy as possible for people to complete a payment and accelerate adoption across Europe.

Businesses are going beyond experimenting with open banking payments and are instead integrating them at the heart of their payment strategy. More than half of all Plaid’s European payment volume is now routed through our virtual account solution, demonstrating adoption at a pace that requires dependable, enterprise-grade partners.

Faster user experiences across Europe

This year we introduced one click payments, removing unnecessary friction and enabling near-instant repeat purchases. Even in early rollout, one-click has boosted conversion by 2% for all users across the UK and Europe. At the scale of millions of payments per month and tens of billions of euros and pounds moved annually, every fraction of a percentage point moves the needle for our customers.

We also optimised the payment experience for repeat users,  improving conversion by 11%. As a result Plaid’s customers benefit from Plaid's returning user conversion to 90%+, placing performance among the strongest payment experiences available in Europe today. 

Recurring payments accelerate 

Recurring bank payments saw a breakout year. What began as an emerging model has now become a core part of many payment flows, with Plaid usage increasing tenfold. As the regulatory landscape across the United Kingdom and the European Union evolves with instant payment rails, recurring payments are becoming a powerful alternative to traditional direct debit and card-based systems.

Fueling customer success

YNAB: Going global and surging conversion within weeks 

You Need A Budget (YNAB) is a leading personal finance app that simplifies spending decisions and clarifies priorities for everyday people. YNAB expanded into Europe effortlessly thanks to their existing US integration with Plaid. Today, people in 20 countries across the world can use YNAB. Since switching to Plaid in Europe, they increased conversion by 21%, driven by our optimised user experience and high volume of bank coverage.

Zilch: Explosive early growth

Zilch proved Pay by Bank can be a catalyst for rapid growth. The consumer BNPL platform powering the future of commerce integrated Plaid to make repayments smarter and simpler. Within months of launch, Pay by Bank quickly became a meaningful part of Zilch’s payments mix—driving ~20% of total payment value within one month of full rollout.

This rapid adoption underscores how the right payments experience can unlock new user behaviour and drive sustained engagement at scale.

YouLend: Continued 5 year growth 

The global embedded finance platform, YouLend, became a Plaid customer back in 2020 to deliver faster, fairer access to capital through data-driven underwriting. With open banking data, YouLend underwrites and decisions financing with a 90% approval rate within 24 hours. To date, YouLend has funded more than 370,000 businesses globally. Five years on, YouLend has consistently achieved more than 40% year-over-year growth of open banking usage, with 2025 continuing that trajectory. This sustained performance demonstrates that open banking is not a passing trend but has become a foundational component of modern underwriting. 

Strong momentum in a market that’s scaling fast

In addition to growing our customers, we grew our own local team last year across the London and Amsterdam offices. More people means more local expertise, more time with customers and policymakers and more momentum behind everything we’re building. 

The market is scaling, expectations are rising, and the opportunity ahead has never been greater. We’re ready to help you build in 2026 🚀