In a keynote at the Smart Data Forum 2026, Open Banking Limited CEO Henk Van Hulle set out the organization's view on how open banking lessons should shape the United Kingdom's wider smart data framework. He argued that effective expansion will require a degree of mandated participation, consistent standards, interoperable infrastructure and sustainable commercial funding models, rather than relying only on voluntary data sharing. He also pointed to a next phase for open banking supported by a new regulatory regime beyond the Competition and Markets Authority order. Van Hulle said common standards and scheme rules are needed to make smart data business models viable, reduce the burden of dealing with data holders on different terms and create clear accountability when problems arise. He presented UKPI, the scheme for commercial variable recurring payments, as the first commercial open banking model of this approach, saying Open Banking Limited facilitated its incubation and that 23 firms now own shares in it. He also referred to previously published EY analysis estimating that open banking has already delivered GBP 8.3bn in cumulative benefits based on more than 18 million monthly user connections, with annual benefits reaching GBP 7.4bn in five years on current adoption trends and up to GBP 43bn per year at full maturity. As a next step, he said work is underway with industry leading the move to the next phase of open banking, with a new regulatory framework intended to retain what works and update areas that need to change. He also linked future gains to broader cross-sector data sharing, including areas such as savings, investments, mortgages, energy usage and property data, with interoperability across schemes built on shared rules and infrastructure.

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