Open Banking: Russia’s Next Fintech Growth Engine
Russia’s fintech landscape has evolved from niche startups into a critical element of the national financial infrastructure. A major milestone in this transformation is the pilot launch of open banking — a move poised to ignite the next wave of digital innovation.
The Door Opens
At the recently concluded Finopolis 2025 forum, VTB and T-Bank announced the launch of their joint open banking pilot. In its first phase, the project will cover about one million clients. Users who hold accounts in both banks will soon be able to view their entire transaction history in a single app.
VTB is already running a similar initiative with Alfa-Bank, which is now expanding beyond its focus group stage to reach nearly a million users. Eventually, participating banks plan to add new features — operations that were previously available only through their proprietary applications.
A Boost for Fintech
Open banking technology is built on open programming interfaces, or Open APIs. The Central Bank of Russia first introduced the concept in 2022, requiring financial institutions to exchange data on customer accounts and products. Testing is currently underway, with full-scale adoption expected by 2026.
With customer consent, financial market participants will gain standardized API access to banking data through a unified platform — improving customer service, boosting competition, and driving fintech innovation. This could pave the way for everything from personalized financial advisors to cross-platform payment ecosystems.
Security at the Core
The open banking infrastructure features advanced data encryption powered by certified domestic algorithms. This enhances both data protection and the security of IT systems across participating companies. Banks are shifting from closed, monolithic systems to flexible, platform-based architectures — giving customers unified access to all their accounts and improving the overall service experience.
According to a VTB study, 78% of Russians want to manage all their bank accounts in a single app. The population’s high digital literacy, mature online banking ecosystem, and major players’ API expertise all accelerate this transformation.
Toward a More Open Future
Russia’s largest banks have been integrating internal APIs with external partners — from food delivery services to insurers — for years. For example, VTB and Rostelecom jointly launched a big data platform with API access back in 2020. This collaboration trend is only gaining momentum: closed ecosystems are evolving into foundations for future openness.
The country’s financial system is clearly moving toward a platform-based model. In the next one to two years, expect to see aggregators that combine data from multiple banks and deeper integration with investment and insurance platforms. Meanwhile, national API standards and data protection regulations will continue to strengthen. Open banking may become the bridge uniting the interests of businesses, regulators, and end users alike.
