There has been a lot of activity around FiDA recently. In February 2025, a rumour spread that the EU Commission had removed the FiDA project from its 2025 work programme. That turned out to be false. The trialogue negotiations on the FiDA Regulation are now in progress.
Table of Contents
This article gives a short overview of the current situation and highlights some key criticism of the FiDA proposal by the EU Commission.
What is FiDA?
FiDA stands for the Financial Data Access Regulation. It aims to create a legal framework for sharing financial data, also known as “Open Finance“. Unlike PSD2, which focused on payment account data (Open Banking), FiDA covers more financial data. The goal is to open up the financial sector even further.
Everything you need to know about the (r)evolution from Open Banking to Open Finance and the EU Commission’s FiDA proposal can be found here.
Status quo
The legislative process is in full swing (the legislative process can be tracked here). The EU Commission published its proposal on 28 June 2023. Since then, different stakeholders, including the ECB, have given their opinions. In addition to the EU Commission, the Council of the EU (“Council”) and the European Parliament (“EP”) are also involved in the EU legislative process.
On 10 March 2025, both the EP and the Council shared their positions on the EU Commission’s FiDA proposal (available here).
Now, the trilogue negotiations between the EP, the Council and the EU Commission are underway. The goal is to agree on the final version of the FiDA Regulation.
Both the EP and the Council have proposed changes to the original draft. These changes mainly relate to:
- Scope of the regulation
- Definition of customer data
- Technical and organisational requirements
- Transition periods
Key Criticism and Open Questions
Not everyone supports the EU Commission’s FiDA proposal. Some say it might hinder innovation instead of encouraging it. Others are concerned about costs and complexity, especially for smaller companies.
Key criticism and open questions are:
Scope too broad
Some parts of companies, like pension schemes, are included in the proposal. Critics say this goes too far.
Open question: Will the trialogue limit the scope as suggested by the Council?
The Council wants to exclude certain pension schemes and non-contractual insurance products
Vague Definitions
Terms like “customer” and “customer data” (e.g. the potential inclusion of creditworthiness data and derived data) are unclear. There is concern that this might include credit scores or ratings.
Open Question: Will the definitions be made clearer and more practical? The EP supports this idea.
Adaptation of rights and obligations of the data holder and data user
The obligation to obtain, store and prove the customer’s consent to the exchange of data between the data user and data holder is criticised as too complex and legally unclear.
Open question: Will the trialogue agree on standard consent rules and interfaces to make implementation easier?
Licensing Barriers re financial information service providers
Planned rules for non-EU providers and large digital platforms (like US BigTech firms) may distort competition.
Open question: Will the trilogue implement separate requirements for e.g. US BigTechs or “gatekeepers” when applying for a licence as a financial information service provider?
Tight deadlines
The original 18-month implementation period is seen as too short—especially for smaller players and complex data.
Open question: Will the Council succeed with its proposal for phased implementation depending on the type of data or market role (e.g. 24, 36, or 48 months after FiDA comes into force)?
Conclusion
FiDA is moving forward, but it’s not final yet. Many details still need to be discussed – especially with regard to practical feasibility, market impact and proportionality.
It’s a good sign that the Council and EP have taken up important criticisms. The final regulation will depend on how these points are resolved during the trialogue.
Negotiations are expected to end in the second half of 2025.
