How financial providers can earn trust in data sharing

When it comes to managing their finances, consumers today are increasingly taking advantage of a range of different platforms. The average consumer has five to seven financial accounts¹, using services offered by traditional banks, fintechs and digital-first providers.

Yet, each option comes with another layer of complexity. In “Wallet Fatigue 2025: Why Users Rely on Multiple Finance Apps,” a study conducted in 2025 by the fintech company Decta, over 80% of respondents reported at least occasional confusion about which platform had the particular information or function they needed².

No wonder consumers are choosing providers that make interactions easier and more relevant. A 2024 FICO survey shows that 73% of customers prefer to do business with banks that personalize their products and services³.

Open finance can help financial institutions (FIs) and fintechs level up their offerings by connecting consumer financial data — but only if consumers agree to share it. To earn that “yes,” organizations must first earn their trust.

In this blog, we’ll explore the steps organizations can take to build consumer confidence by making data sharing easy to understand, simple to control, and rewarding for both customer and provider.

Earning trust is only the beginning. Maintaining it requires a backbone of governance, security and technology that protects information and promotes responsible data stewardship. Before asking consumers to share data, organizations must make sure their systems and operations are up to the task.

The first imperative is to update application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs are virtual bridges that allow different types of software to communicate, so institutions can share permissioned information and offer advanced third-party services. As the foundation for data connectivity, APIs must be able to deliver the reliability, scalability and security that modern financial experiences depend on. Businesses should pair this infrastructure with transparent, user-centric consent management and high-security authorization processes.

Once they permission their data, consumers expect it to be handled responsibly. Effective data governance must be a foundational layer with clear standards, technical protocols and audit mechanisms that ensure customers’ data is used only for its explicitly approved purpose.

A single fraud incident can prompt customers to opt out for good, even if the breach occurs through a third-party provider or data aggregator. Organizations must ensure their partners uphold rigorous security standards, including:

• data encryption
• multifactor authentication
• fraud prevention controls
• regular security audits

Once organizations have built a secure foundation for data sharing, the next step is to put that information to work. A smart move is to prioritize top open finance use cases that offer obvious benefits for their consumers, such as faster onboarding and account verification, fairer lending and more relevant personalized services.

Why does this matters? By reducing friction in key customer journeys, organizations can create smoother experiences while gaining a more holistic view of their customers’ financial needs and behaviors rather than a partial, fragmented view.

“Banks want to engage their customers better,” Rajat Padhi, vice president and global lead for Mastercard Open Finance Advisors and Transformation, said in an interview with Mastercard on June 1, 2026. “Open finance data can help them figure out what matters most to their clients, so they can build more personalized relationships and increase retention.”

Given the many moving parts involved in trust-centric data sharing, creating a scalable open finance strategy can be challenging. That’s why it’s important for organizations to choose a partner with a global scale and proven expertise in financial data and technology management to help them prepare for long-term success.

For 60 years, trust has been the backbone of the Mastercard brand. As a longstanding global financial services provider, we protect more than 175.5 billion transactions every year⁸, and we embed the same standards of security across all our platforms. That commitment extends to our role as data stewards. In 2019, we made a pledge to uphold high standards in our data practices to ensure that consumers control and benefit from their information. We have also constructed multiple layers of security to protect that data.

Mastercard’s comprehensive open finance ecosystem empowers financial institutions and fintechs to offer personalized financial management, lending, account-to-account payments and small business solutions. Mastercard also helps its partners design clearer consent flows so consumers understand why they are being asked to share data and recognize tangible advantages from saying “yes.”

At a time when earning and sustaining consumer trust is becoming a competitive differentiator, financial institutions and fintechs can stand out by creating clearer data-sharing experiences that deliver meaningful value to consumers. By building trust into every interaction, providers can create lasting relationships and lead the next generation of personalized financial services. Book a demo today and discover how Mastercard Open Finance can help you deliver value for consumers and your business.