Work with a lawyer specializing in open banking to structure your business model and review PSD2, account access, banking APIs, user consent, data protection, technology contracts and regulatory compliance for fintechs, financial aggregators and connected platforms.
“We analyze whether your product fits within the open banking ecosystem, define the actual regulatory perimeter of your operations and prepare a legal roadmap so you can launch safely and without unnecessary friction.”
“We advise you on the PSD2 framework that applies to open banking: secure access to payment accounts, relationships with banks, use of APIs, strong customer authentication and the obligations that arise from providing connected services.”
“We design the legal layer of your open banking project so you can process bank data securely: consent, transparency, data minimization, purpose limitation, supplier contracts and technology risk management.”
“We support startups and companies that want to launch or scale open banking products in Spain and the EU, putting in order their regulation, compliance, outsourcing, terms of use, privacy policy and relationships with technology and financial partners.”
We analyze whether your open banking product falls within the applicable regulatory perimeter and define its features, data flows and legal risks, so your launch does not turn into a supervisory problem or a redesign.
PSD2 advice for open banking projects: access to payment accounts, relationships with banks, strong customer authentication, user experience and the legal design of connected operations.
We help you determine whether your platform acts as an account information service provider, a payment initiation service provider or another third party linked to the open banking ecosystem, so you avoid errors in its regulatory classification.
We put in order the key documentation for your open banking project: internal policies, governance, risk maps, outsourcing, operational security and the legal basis you need to operate with a solid structure.
Drafting and negotiation of terms of use, contracts with cloud providers, developers, aggregators and banking partners, and legal documentation for connected financial platforms.
Compliance with the GDPR and the rules that apply to processing financial data: consent, transparency, purpose limitation, retention, breach management and contracts with data processors.
Getting the regulatory fit wrong: many platforms talk about open banking as if it were just technology, but the real issue lies in the legal perimeter. A wrong diagnosis can force you to redesign your product, contracts and operations when you are already on the market.
Poorly designed consent and data use: open banking relies on users’ financial data. If you do not properly structure the legal basis, the information given to customers and purpose limitation, the project is exposed from day one.
APIs and integrations without contractual cover: connecting with banks, aggregators or technology providers without reviewing liability, service levels, security and business continuity can put your entire operation at risk.
Insufficient authentication and security: in open banking, an attractive UX is not enough. Your operations require a legal and technical architecture consistent with strong customer authentication, secure communication and proper operational risk management.
Scaling without a legal strategy: launching first and reviewing later often blocks funding rounds, partner agreements or international expansion. If your open banking product is going to grow, it needs a solid regulatory and contractual foundation.
Open banking is a model in which customers can allow third parties to access certain information from their payment accounts, or to interact with those accounts, in order to offer faster, more personalized and more integrated digital financial services.
It is not just a technology trend. In Europe, it is based on the PSD2 framework and on specific rules on account access, strong customer authentication, secure communication, user consent and the activities of authorized third parties within the financial ecosystem.
If your company wants to launch an open banking product in Spain, you need to get the legal model right from the start to avoid problems with your product, data, contracts or supervision.
In Spain, open banking is mainly governed by the PSD2 framework and by the technical standards on strong customer authentication and secure communication between the different operators in the payments ecosystem.
This means the legal analysis cannot stop at a simple review of the terms of use. You need to examine what service is actually provided, how accounts are accessed, what data is processed, what role each third party plays and what obligations arise toward the user and toward other operators.
When someone searches for “open banking” with a genuine business purpose, they usually need exactly that: clarity on regulation, operations, risks and the viability of the model.
It depends on the specific service your company will provide. “Open banking” is a broad concept, but it can involve different regulated roles depending on the product’s actual functionality and the role the company plays.
The typical mistake is to try to answer this question with a commercial label. The right approach is a regulatory analysis of the actual service.
Open banking relies on secure access to payment accounts through technical interfaces, usually APIs, within a framework of secure communication and strong customer authentication. This is one of the central pieces of the PSD2 ecosystem.
In practice, this means reviewing the product’s legal and technical architecture: how it connects with third parties, how users are informed, how consent is documented, what responsibilities each party assumes and how operational continuity is protected.
A well-designed open banking project does not separate technology and law: the two must be designed together.
Open banking involves processing financial data that is particularly sensitive from an economic and reputational standpoint. That is why privacy is not an add-on: it is a central part of the business model and of user trust.
You need to work carefully on consent, prior information, the legal basis for processing, data minimization, purpose limitation, retention, contracts with data processors and the handling of security incidents.
If this part is left until the end, it usually blows up just when the product is ready to go to market.
Because an open banking project almost always depends on a network of legal relationships: users, banks, aggregators, cloud providers, developers, technology partners and, sometimes, regulated entities that support part of the operations.
If those contracts do not properly allocate liability, service levels, security measures, intellectual property, operational continuity and data processing, the project can be legally fragile even if the technology works.
Often the real risk lies not in the code, but in the documentation that accompanies the product.
From the design stage. The right time to review open banking is not when the app has already been developed, but while you can still adjust the functional scope, the regulatory fit, consents, contracts and the actual data flow.
A lawyer specializing in open banking helps you decide how to structure the service, what regulatory risks it carries, which contracts must be signed before launch and how to prepare the project to grow with banks, investors or technology partners.
Fixing a poorly designed project after going to market usually costs much more than designing it properly from the start.
Open banking connects with other key areas of financial regulation, regulatory compliance, data protection and contract structuring. Discover the services that complement your project.
Documentation and compliance support for fintech projects that need an internal structure, risk analysis and regulatory order.
Advice on regulated digital models that combine technology, financial data and new market products.
Corporate compliance programs, internal controls and legal structure for technology companies with regulatory exposure.
Documentation and independent analysis to strengthen internal processes and supervision and to validate compliance structures.
Specialist consulting for fintech companies that need to put their internal policies, procedures and compliance culture in order.
Internal manual and control documentation for organizations that need to formalize procedures and responsibilities.
Advice on corporate transactions, funding rounds and reorganizations for technology startups and scaleups in the fintech space.
Legal and documentary review for investments, partnerships or acquisitions of projects with a regulatory and technology component.
Check the scenarios that apply to you. The more that match, the greater the need to review your model’s regulation, account access, data, security and contractual structure.
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Check the scenarios that apply to your project.
Everything you need to know about open banking, the applicable regulation, PSD2, APIs, data protection, authorized third parties and the most common mistakes to avoid.
Open banking lets customers share information from their payment accounts, or enable certain interactions with third parties, to receive more useful, integrated and personalized digital financial services. Its impact can be seen in bank aggregators, personal finance apps, treasury software, connected accounting and new fintech products.
The key point is that this is not just a commercial innovation. Open banking has direct legal implications for account access, consent, security, data protection, contracts and supervision of the model.
In Europe, open banking has developed within the PSD2 framework, which opened up access to payment accounts to certain authorized third parties under secure conditions and with specific rules of conduct.
That is why any open banking project in Spain must analyze what service it actually provides, whether it falls within specific regulated perimeters, how the relationship with the user is documented and what obligations arise toward banks, providers and other players in the ecosystem.
Open banking usually relies on APIs and secure communication mechanisms that make it possible to exchange information and execute certain functions with a seamless digital experience. But the technical layer does not work on its own: it needs a well-designed legal architecture.
This means reviewing the contractual documentation, the allocation of responsibilities, dependence on providers, the actual scope of account access and the role played by the different operators involved in the service chain.
One of the most delicate aspects of open banking is the processing of financial data. User experience, consent, prior information and purpose limitation must be built in from the product design stage, not added at the last minute.
You also need to put in order the privacy policy, contracts with data processors, data retention, the security of the environment and incident response. In projects connected to bank accounts, legal trust is part of the product.
Open banking requires a combination of legal design, operational security and technical traceability. Connecting to an API is not enough: you need to properly structure authentication, security measures, incident management, service continuity and the control of outsourcing.
When these pieces are poorly resolved, the problem does not usually appear at the start, but just when the product begins to scale, win significant customers or negotiate with banks, investors and strategic partners.
The most common mistake is treating open banking as a purely technical matter. This leads to building a product without having properly defined the legal perimeter, data flows, contractual documentation and the actual regulatory framework.
Another critical mistake is copying generic fintech or digital banking texts without adapting them to the project’s connected operations. A page that tries to cover everything ranks well for nothing, and it also conveys legal uncertainty.
Finally, neglecting data, contracts and dependence on third parties is usually the most expensive mistake: the product works, but it stalls when it tries to grow, integrate better or withstand serious scrutiny from partners, clients or supervisors.
If you are looking into this issue, these pages will help you broaden your analysis of leases, supply agreements and contracts with reciprocal obligations.
Key legal points, reciprocal obligations and essential aspects for correctly interpreting this type of contractual relationship.
View page LeasesReview the most important clauses governing use, term, rent, liability and termination of the agreement.
View page LeasesA useful resource for analyzing operating conditions, term, works, recoverable expenses and protection of the parties.
View page CommercialStructure, standard clauses and critical points for documenting ongoing supply relationships with legal certainty.
View pageKey legislation, linked to the official text:
Legislation and links reviewed in .