When open finance costs rise, it pays to rethink your partner

Open finance should help your business move faster, serve customers better and grow with confidence. If your current setup is starting to feel more expensive, more limited or harder to scale, it may be time to rethink what you expect from your provider.

Choosing the right open finance partner is not just a technology decision. It is a growth decision. The right platform should give you reliable connectivity, practical support and the flexibility to keep building without forcing you to compromise on performance, security or value.

That is why more financial institutions, fintechs and digital businesses could benefit from taking a closer look at their open finance partnerships. When costs rise or support feels harder to access, the question becomes simple: Is your provider still helping you grow — or holding you back?

Here is what to look for when deciding whether it is time to switch.

A strong open finance partner should not only meet today’s requirements. It should be ready for the next market, product, use case and customer expectation on your roadmap. Before you commit to a platform, ask whether it can support the business you are becoming — not just the one you are today. 

If your current provider checks the basics but leaves you questioning what comes next, that is a signal worth paying attention to. Will it continue to support your needs as transaction volumes grow, use cases expand and customer expectations evolve? 

Switching open finance providers should not mean slowing down. With the right partner, it can be a strategic reset — one that helps your business protect momentum, improve efficiency and build on a platform designed for long-term growth. 

When you are ready to expand into new markets, you need more than connectivity. You need a partner that understands regulatory requirements, has the infrastructure already in place. Mastercard Open Finance helps power secure payments and data connections between people and businesses, with APIs that connect to 95% of U.S. deposit accounts, all Australian banks and nearly 3,000 European banks. Mastercard Open Finance also services more than 15 billion API calls globally each year, bringing scale, experience and trust to every connection.

If you are evaluating alternatives, look beyond the headline price. The strongest partner should help you switch with confidence and scale with less friction from every connection. Focus on these essentials: 

Reach and reliability: Reliable, high-quality data access should be the baseline — not a premium add-on. Look for broad coverage across the markets where you operate today and where you plan to grow next. Operational reliability matters, too. Every failed connection, delayed payment or broken experience can create friction for your customers and your team. 

Security and compliance: Open finance depends on trust. Your provider should bring proven expertise in security, privacy and regulatory complexity, so your business can move quickly without taking unnecessary risk. Mastercard Open Finance is built around secure, permissioned data sharing designed to help consumers and businesses manage how their financial data is shared. 

Implementation and support: Switching should feel manageable, not disruptive. The right partner will help you plan, implement and optimize with support that is built into the relationship. When your team has the right guidance, you can move faster and reduce uncertainty.  

Pricing and commercial value: If rising costs are making you take a closer look at your open finance strategy, make sure you are measuring more than price. Value comes from the full picture: connectivity, reliability, support and speed to market. Mastercard Open Finance offers advanced APIs and solutions across account opening, payments, lending, personal financial management and business cash flow — helping organizations strengthen their financial experiences with scalable, useful solutions.

Competitive pressure is rising. Budgets are under scrutiny. Customer expectations are not slowing down. That means your open finance provider has to do more than connect data. It has to help you compete.

If your current open finance provider no longer feels like the right fit, now is the time to explore what a stronger partner can do for your business. Mastercard Open Finance can help you assess your needs, understand your switching options and identify the right path forward — with secure connections, practical support and scalable solutions built for growth. 

Our Mastercard Open Finance consultancy team can help you evaluate your current setup, identify opportunities to help improve performance and value, and build a practical roadmap for switching with confidence.

Ready to see what switching could look like? Contact Mastercard Open Finance to learn more or request a demo today.