Third-Party Banking Access

Third-party banking access is a general description of an authorised outside firm reaching a customer's bank account, with the customer's consent, to read information or start payments. In the European Union, the Second Payment Services Directive made this a legal right for online payment accounts. Banks must let registered third-party providers in through a secure interface, usually an API, for two services: reading data, known as an account information service, and initiating payments, known as a payment initiation service. The customer authenticates with their own bank. The United Kingdom built its open banking standard on the same model, and other countries have their own regimes, such as the CFPB's personal financial data rights rule in the United States, whose final form and timing have been subject to legal challenge. Also see account information service provider.