Open banking is a financial services model in which banks and other financial institutions are required or enabled to share customer financial data — with the customer's explicit consent — with licensed third-party providers (TPPs) through standardised application programming interfaces (APIs). This model is critical for Africa because of the current state of financial exclusion across the continent. According to the World Bank, there are more than 500 million unbanked adults in Sub-Saharan Africa. This article presents an overview of the current state of Africa’s open banking market and its potential.

According to Grand View Research, the Middle East & Africa (MEA) open banking market generated $2.26 billion in revenue in 2024 and is projected to grow at a 28.3% CAGR through 2030, reaching nearly $10 billion. Payments is the fastest-growing segment, while banking and capital markets account for the largest revenue share at around 57%. The following factors will be key to realising its growth potential:

The Central Bank of Nigeria introduced an Open Banking framework in 2023 to regulate API-driven collaboration between banks and fintechs. It enables secure sharing of customer-permissioned data to improve financial inclusion, competition, transparency, and service efficiency, while aligning with global standards and managing risks within Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.

South Africa’s open banking ecosystem includes regulators, financial institutions, and third-party providers. While strong data protection laws exist, gaps remain around APIs and third parties. FSCA's phased rollout of a formal open finance framework is underway, covering banking, insurance, credit and more. SA market: $334.6M in 2024, projected to reach $1.52B by 2030.

The Central Bank of Kenya’s National Vision and Strategy focuses on advancing customer-centric financial services, promoting interoperability across digital finance systems, and ensuring high-quality financial products and services—objectives that align closely with those adopted by many OECD countries.

The Bank of Ghana issued an Open Banking Directive in 2024 under existing financial, payment systems, data protection, and cybersecurity laws to enable secure, customer-consented data sharing among regulated financial institutions. Developed with stakeholder input, the directive supports policy objectives to enhance and modernise Ghana’s financial ecosystem and payment infrastructure.

Only 38% of Africa’s population had access to broadband connectivity in 2024, highlighting a significant digital divide across the continent. While urban centres continue to benefit from expanding internet infrastructure, rural and underserved regions remain largely disconnected or reliant on low-quality and intermittent connections. This uneven connectivity directly constrains the scalability of digital and API-driven financial services, which depend on stable internet access to enable real-time data exchange, authentication, and transaction processing.

According to research by OECD, approximately 30% of unbanked users in Sub-Saharan Africa lack the required documentation to open even basic mobile money accounts, highlighting a significant barrier to financial inclusion. The absence of formal identification prevents providers from completing customer due diligence (CDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, which are essential for regulatory compliance.

Low awareness and limited understanding of data-sharing consent remain significant barriers to the adoption of open banking products, particularly among vulnerable and financially excluded groups. Many consumers are unfamiliar with how their financial data is accessed, shared, or used within digital ecosystems, making it difficult for them to give informed consent or fully trust these services. This knowledge gap is often compounded by low levels of digital literacy, limited exposure to formal financial systems, and concerns about privacy and data security.

Banks continue to express concern that open banking could disrupt traditional revenue models by weakening their control over customer data and increasing competition from agile fintech players. As data access becomes more open and interoperable, banks risk losing their role as the primary gatekeepers of financial information and customer relationships, which has historically underpinned many of their service offerings.

Differences in regulatory timelines and API standards across African markets create significant friction for fintechs attempting to build and scale cross-border products. While some countries are actively advancing open banking frameworks and digital finance regulations, others are still in earlier stages of policy development or are implementing reforms at different speeds.

For Africa to realise its ambitions of widespread financial inclusion and prosperity for its citizens, more open banking initiatives must be implemented in the near future. Currently, the largest economies on the continent are pioneering open banking standards and regulations, but smaller economies risk being left behind. Therefore, countries should collaborate regionally to establish best practices that make open banking safe and accessible to the nations that need it most.