What is a national Open Finance hub?

A national Open Finance hub is a single, shared platform that connects data holders and data users across a market. Banks and other holders expose their data and payment APIS to the hub once, and the same participating banks and licensed third parties reach every participant through the same connection. The hub enforces a common standard, so a provider does not have to build and maintain a different integration for each bank.

The alternative is a decentralized model, where every bank publishes its own APIs to a shared specification and third parties connect to each institution separately. We compared the two approaches in Centralized vs. Decentralized Open Finance. A hub concentrates the work in one place; a decentralized model spreads it across every participant.

What does a hub actually do?

The details vary by country, but most national hubs handle some combination of the following:

• A directory or registry of licensed participants, so everyone knows who is allowed to connect.
• Consent management, so customers grant, view, and withdraw permission in a consistent way.
• Standardized connectivity, so a single integration reaches the whole market.
• Routing of data, and in some markets payments, between holders and users.
• Security, authentication, and a trust framework that all participants follow.
• Onboarding, testing, dispute handling, and other shared operations.

Not every hub does all of this. Some are full data-exchange platforms, some are consent and data-sharing networks, and some are common API gateways that sit alongside the banks' own systems.

Who runs a national Open Finance hub today?

A handful of markets already operate one, and each shows a different way to run it.

India, the Account Aggregator network. India’s hub is a network of licensed Account Aggregators that move consented data between financial institutions, under a framework set by the Reserve Bank of India. Sahamati, an RBI recognised self regulatory organisation, coordinates the ecosystem. It has grown into national digital public infrastructure, with more than 780 financial institutions connected and over 269 million customer consents processed since it went live in 2021.

Singapore, SGFinDex. The Singapore Financial Data Exchange is government owned and operated. It is built by GovTech, secured by the national digital identity Singpass, and overseen by the Monetary Authority of Singapore with the Association of Banks in Singapore. It lets residents pull their financial data from participating banks and government agencies into one view, and has run since 2020.

United Arab Emirates, Nebras. The Central Bank of the UAE operates its Open Finance platform through Nebras Open Finance, a central bank subsidiary that runs the API hub and common services every licensed institution and third party connects to. The framework is live and banks have begun activating it, with Commercial Bank of Dubai among the first.

Malaysia, PayNet. Bank Negara Malaysia is building its hub on PayNet, the national payments operator, with the first institutions scheduled to go live in January 2027. It is a good example of a regulator building Open Finance on national rails that already work at scale.

Brazil is often mentioned in the same conversation. Its Open Finance system is governed centrally by the central bank and uses a shared directory, but the data itself flows between participants rather than through a single hub, which is why it is usually described as a hybrid rather than a pure hub.

Who typically operates the hub?

The operator is usually one of four bodies: the regulator itself, a central bank subsidiary company (Nebras in the UAE), the national payments operator (PayNet in Malaysia), or a government technology agency (GovTech in Singapore). Whichever it is, it needs the authority to run national infrastructure and the technical capacity to keep it secure and available.

Does every market need a hub?

No. A hub is not automatically the right answer. It tends to suit markets that want speed to go-live, lower cost per bank, and easier supervision, and that have a capable operator to run it. Markets with many well resourced banks and strong oversight can succeed with a decentralized model instead. The deciding factors are whether a capable operator exists, whether trusted national rails are already in place, how the build is funded, and how quickly the market needs a working ecosystem. We walk through that decision in Centralized vs. Decentralized Open Finance.

Frequently asked questions

What is a national Open Finance hub?

It is shared, central infrastructure that connects the banks that hold financial data with the licensed providers that use it. Participants connect once to the hub, which manages consent, standards, connectivity, and often the routing of data and payments, rather than each institution building separate connections.

Which countries run a national Open Finance hub?

India (the Account Aggregator network), Singapore (SGFinDex), and the UAE (Nebras) run one today. Malaysia’s hub, operated by PayNet, is scheduled to go live in 2027. Brazil operates a centrally governed system with a shared directory, though its data flows are distributed, so it is usually called a hybrid.

Who operates a national hub?

Usually the regulator, a central bank owned entity, the national payments operator, or a government technology agency. The operator needs the authority and the technical capacity to run critical national infrastructure.

How is a hub different from decentralized open banking?

In a hub model, participants connect once to shared central infrastructure. In a decentralized model, each bank exposes its own APIs to a common standard and third parties connect to each bank separately. A hub concentrates connectivity and supervision; a decentralized model spreads them across the market.

Does a hub handle payments as well as data?

In some markets, yes. Many hubs cover both account information and payment initiation, while others focus on data sharing first and add payments in a later phase.

Brankas builds and operates Open Finance infrastructure across APAC and MENA, including national hub deployments for regulators and operators. If you are scoping a national hub, we are happy to share what we have learned building and running this infrastructure.

Planning national Open Finance infrastructure? Talk to our team.