It’s safe to say that Germany is leading the charge for open banking in the EU.

In 2022, Germany ranked second in our league table, and its open banking market is projected to grow to approximately $9 billion by 2030, with a forecasted compound annual growth rate of 26% from 2024 to 2030.

Similarly, open banking instant payments are predicted to make up 5% of Germany’s total payments by 2028.

While this is promising, you might have a few questions about actually implementing open banking in Germany. Which providers are worth using for open banking? What does the future look like—is it worth your investment?

Read on to find out.

In this article:

• What are the top open banking providers in Germany?
• How well has Germany adopted open banking?
• What does the future of open banking in Germany look like?
• Three reasons to use Yapily for open banking in Germany
• How Pleo used open banking to automate wallet top-ups and expand across Europe

Are you looking for an open banking provider with high coverage in Germany and a broad range of payment and data solutions? Yapily could be the perfect fit—book a call with one of our experts to find out more

What are the top open banking providers in Germany?

Before looking more into the current state of play of open banking in Germany, it’s worth comparing *who *offers open banking.

To help you understand the landscape, here’s a quick comparison of five of the most popular open banking providers currently operating in Germany:

For a more detailed comparison, check out this article: 5 open banking solutions for payments and data

How well has Germany adopted open banking?

Germany’s journey with open banking started off rocky, but it has since become one of Europe’s most promising success stories.

While initial adoption under PSD2 regulation faced hurdles like shaky API connectivity and lukewarm enthusiasm, recent years have seen a dramatic turnaround. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to digital banking, prompting German banks to embrace change and improve their infrastructure. Since 2020, adoption rates have been climbing steadily, driven by a growing recognition of open banking’s potential.

Cities like Berlin, known for their vibrant fintech ecosystems, have played a pivotal role in this transformation. As of 2023, nearly 950 fintech operate in Germany, pushing innovation in alternative payment methods that enhance security and reduce costs. This thriving environment has drawn significant investment and fueled the adoption of digital payments.

Germany’s leadership in open banking is further cemented by initiatives like The Berlin Group, comprising nearly 40 banks across the EU. Their NextGenPSD2 API, launched in 2020, introduced robust, standardised frameworks for banks and third-party providers (TPPs) to integrate seamlessly.

However, challenges remain—API standards are still inconsistent across banks. This is where open banking platforms, like Yapily, step in to bridge the gap, offering aggregated APIs that ensure a smooth, reliable experience for businesses and consumers alike.

Looking ahead, Germany’s focus on improving user experience, enhancing API standardisation, and addressing security concerns promises to solidify its position as a leader in open banking. For businesses, the opportunities are many—from leveraging a connected banking ecosystem to offering faster, more secure payment journeys.

The future of open banking in Germany is bright, and the groundwork being laid today is shaping a more innovative and connected financial landscape.

What does the future of open banking in Germany look like?

Firstly, let’s consider the future of open banking as a whole.

The open banking market is expected to exceed $130bn by 2030, and users are expected to surpass 100 million. In fact, the Open Banking Global Market Report predicts that by 2028, the open banking market valuation will reach $75.4bn, a CAGR of 25%.

The UK is a clear example of the ever-expanding range of industries, such as lending and credit, that can benefit from open banking payments and data.

In February 2024, the European Parliament passed new legislation to update SEPA rules to ensure that fund transfers for retail customers and businesses across the EU would be instant. This implored PSPs to implement greater fraud detection, prevention mechanisms, and penalties for non-compliance.

Michiel Hoogeveen (ECR, NL), the lead MEP, commented: “The Instant Payments Regulation marks the long-awaited modernisation of payments in the European single market. Customers can now say goodbye to the inconvenience of waiting two or three working days to access their money. We are delivering on something that people and businesses truly care about: transferring money within 10 seconds at any time of the day.”

The implementation of these new rules is set to enhance the open banking framework by facilitating the quick and safe transfer of financial data and money. This development is likely to expand the range of services and solutions accessible to consumers, thereby integrating open banking more deeply into the financial practices of Europeans. Such an integration highlights a transition towards a more connected and flexible financial environment, with the swift processing of transactions emerging as a key feature of the digital economy.

So, what about the future of open banking in Germany?

The future looks bright for further open banking adoption across Germany, especially as we anticipate the introduction of PSD3 which will strengthen consumer protection as well as improve user experience.

The Financial Data Access framework (FIDA) should also help bolster adoption as it will allow access to non-payment accounts and represents a shift towards open finance. This looks to be a significant driver in the predicted rise of open banking users and be a big step towards offering a complete and holistic view of customer finances and investments.

Improvements could be made with standardisation of API quality and connectivity so all German banks and businesses can anticipate the same quality of open banking payments and data.

Finally, as with all financial services, education and collaboration are essential to driving innovation in this space, encouraging more businesses and users to adopt open banking.

Why use Yapily for your open banking in Germany?

Germany’s open banking ecosystem is expanding fast, and the provider you choose can make or break your ability to deliver reliable and efficient services. Yapily went live in Germany in 2020, and we now support over 1,000 banks and financial institutions across the country.

Whether you’re managing complex payment flows, integrating data services, or scaling to handle high transaction volumes, Yapily gives you the powerful open banking functionality you need to stay ahead.

Here’s what you get when you use Yapily:

High coverage in Germany for both payments and data (and broad coverage across the UK and EU)

With Yapily, you gain access to most banks across Germany. But what if you’re planning to expand your operations? Without a provider offering the right coverage, you’d face the headache of managing multiple integrations—a time-consuming and costly process. This isn’t the case with Yapily, as we have high coverage rest of the EU and the UK, meaning you won’t have to use multiple providers.

Yapily also empowers you to offer a wide range of payment capabilities, including single, scheduled, bulk, and variable recurring payments.

If you’re looking for data services, our API provides all the fields you need for a complete view of your customers, including:

• The bank
• Account balance
• Transactions
• Account owner
• Type of account

With Yapily Data Plus, we take this further by categorising and enriching your data. Our categorisation system breaks transactions into over 20+ incoming and 70+ outgoing categories, giving you the level of detail needed to truly understand customer activity. For example, you can differentiate between essential expenses, subscriptions, and discretionary spending—valuable insights for tailoring your offerings. We have dedicated categories for both retail and business accounts.

Whether you’re focused on payments, data, or both, Yapily ensures you have the tools and coverage needed to succeed.

Access both payment and data services with our enterprise-ready secure API

If you’re considering adding open banking to your payments strategy, you might be a little unsure about the reliability of the API. Can it really handle large transaction volumes?

With Yapily, this isn’t a problem. Our RESTful API is built with enterprise in mind, and can effortlessly handle high transaction volumes. Our API runs through a cloud-based platform and Spring framework to be able to handle large transaction volumes, high uptime, and strong security for sensitive data.

Similarly, our API is straightforward to integrate, as we have clear documentation and a helpful team of experts who can help you with any technical difficulties. This saves your engineering team valuable time that they can then spend on improving your product.

Another time-saver is that we’re authorised as both a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) and an Account Information Service Provider (AISP) in Germany (as well as across Europe and the UK). This means you don’t have to pursue your own authorisation to offer open banking payments and data: you can just use ours.

One Yapily customer who makes use of both of these services is Emma.

Emma is a personal finance management app designed to help users track their spending and manage budgets more efficiently.

Yapily AISP allows Emma to easily access transaction data and balance information from multiple accounts in one place.

Yapily Payments enables Emma to:

• Top up their Emma Invest account directly from their bank account.
• Deposit funds instantly.
• Avoid long settlement times.
• Move funds from one bank account to another.
• Pay their contacts.

Since partnering with Yapily, Emma has achieved impressive results:

• Over 30,000 users began investing within a single month.
• Monthly transaction value increased by 267% month-on-month.
• Total payment consents in three months surpassed the volume of the previous 12 months combined.

Read the full case study: How Emma and Yapily are helping people make smarter financial decisions

Your brand and product take centre stage with our white-label platform

With many PISPs, customers are redirected away from a merchant’s branded checkout experience to an interface dominated by third-party logos. During this critical payment moment, customers may feel uncertain about where their sensitive information is going or question the unfamiliar branding they encounter.

This can create trust issues. When customers shop on a platform they know, seeing different branding during payment can raise doubts and even concerns about potential fraud. This hesitation often leads to abandoned transactions, directly impacting conversion rates.

Yapily takes a different approach. As an infrastructure provider, we focus on enabling merchants to maintain control of their payment journey. With our white-label solution, merchants can host payment flows entirely within their own brand experience. By reducing uncertainty and building trust, you can lower cart abandonment rates and drive more successful transactions, ultimately boosting your bottom line.

If you’re looking to get to market as soon as possible, we also offer hosted payment solutions, too.

How Pleo used open banking to automate wallet top-ups and expand across Europe

Pleo, the Danish fintech serving 25,000 businesses, turned to open banking to simplify payments and drive growth. By partnering with Yapily, Pleo replaced slow, manual wallet top-ups with faster, more efficient payments. This upgrade didn’t just save time for customers—it also helped Pleo grow its footprint across Europe.

The results speak for themselves. In the Netherlands, 60% of customers used open banking for their first wallet top-up within a month of launch. Across the UK, France, and the Netherlands, €7.3 million has been processed using Yapily, with 80% of users sticking with open banking for repeat payments.

In addition, Pleo is rolling out Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs), letting customers set automatic wallet top-ups when their balance gets low. This makes managing expenses even easier.

By using open banking, Pleo has streamlined payments, grown its business, and reached new markets—all while giving customers a faster, more reliable way to top up their wallets.

Choose Yapily as your open banking provider in Germany

As we’ve seen, open banking will continue to grow in Germany, Europe, and across the globe. By partnering with Yapily, you can stay at the cutting-edge of open banking payments and data services, all through one partner.

Speak to our open banking experts to explore our platform and discover how we can help your business unlock the power of open banking.

Sources:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/horizon/outlook/open-banking-market/germany
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1372086/real-time-payment-penetration-in-germany/
https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/germany-neobanking-market
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/open-banking-systems-market \

Comparison table:
¹ https://www.finapi.io/en/home/

² https://qwist.com/en/

³ https://token.io/

⁴ https://tink.com

⁵ https://truelayer.com/