04 Apr 2025

  • Financial Services

Transforming advice with Open Finance: three UX strategies

Open Finance will only be a game-changer if we make it work for consumers. Execution matters!

We’re sharing three UX strategies that will be useful if you’re planning to integrate Open Finance into your wealth, pensions, mortgages, or debt management advice service.

Focusing on clear value exchange, incremental progress, and flexibility will help us create Open Finance-enabled advice services that clients trust and value.

The potential payoff

Open Finance could reduce the cost and effort of providing advice to consumers. That means: 

  • More people who’d benefit from advice could get it (reducing the advice gap, which Boring Money recently sized at 12 million people and £700 billion of assets)
  • And advisers could meet growing demand with lower scaling costs (the holy grail!)

For example, by using Open Finance data to streamline fact-finding, we’d free up time for meaningful conversations, trusting relationships and recommendations that deliver good outcomes.

With a fuller, more accurate picture of a client’s finances from the start – including their banking, investments, pensions, insurance, and more – advisers will have rich discussions and make recommendations sooner. That’s better for your bottom line, and your advisers will thank you for it too.

Advisers and clients both want to minimise data gathering, so they can have more constructive conversations sooner.

Just plumb in the right tech and you can send clients up-front requests for data. It sounds straightforward. 

But, if you’ve watched user research, you’ll know that it’s easy to get wrong.

It’s easy to push people away when you ask for their personal data.

Open Finance is a people problem

Consumers are people, and people are strange. At least, they probably don’t know what you know, and think like you think. If your user stories aren’t based on credible research, your customers might not do what you expect. Here’s an example.

A mortgage broker saw the opportunity to use Open Banking to create a market-leading customer journey. The firm thought consumers would share access to their bank accounts early in their borrowing journey because it would make a slow, painful experience faster and easier. So, it invested in the technology integration needed. 

But, when we tested prototypes, we found that early in the journey, when they were weighing up their options, borrowers were too concerned about privacy and security to connect to their bank accounts. It only made sense much later, when they were committed to applying for a specific loan. At that point, they were open to anything that would get the job done sooner.

By the time this insight emerged, an expensive change program was in full swing. Rather than transforming the customer journey and differentiating the service, it delivered a marginal gain.

‘People problems’ to solve

To use Open Finance to improve wealth, pensions, mortgages, or debt management advice, here are a few ‘people problems’ you’ll need to solve. 

Poor understanding creates distrust

Fact finding typically happens early in the advice relationship, before trust has been earned. Get it wrong and clients become wary of the entire process.

Without adequate reassurance, clients may think twice about giving consent to access their data.

In our research, we see people becoming suspicious of data sharing if they don’t understand how that data will be used, stored, and protected, or they don’t understand the benefit of sharing it. Vulnerable customers may be particularly sensitive to requests for data because they fear it will be used against them. 

The obvious solution to poor understanding – transparency – is not a silver bullet.

New burdens

Get it wrong, and you’ll frustrate clients with multiple requests for information.

Here are some pain points we’ve seen when testing prototypes of data-capture journeys.

  • Consumers can feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they’re asked to share
  • Authenticating multiple data sources feels complicated, tiring, and stressful

Up to 50% of UK adults have vulnerabilities such as accessibility needs or low confidence using digital technology that can make these burdens worse.

Undermined relationships and value

There’s a risk that clients may see less need for advisers.

The one everyone wants to avoid.

Human advisers add unique value. If you rely too much on digital interactions, you could weaken the  human relationship. And if customers feel like you’re merely transferring the chore onto them, they may question the price tag.

This fear has led to some firms prioritising other ideas. But those firms risk being left behind.

How to do it right – three UX strategies

We can navigate those risks. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but some proven UX strategies can guide us towards success. Here are three examples.

1. Clarify the value exchange

Clients will wonder – is the payoff worth it?

When asked for data, consumers can be anxious about privacy and security, or lack confidence in their own abilities. You might not need to entirely allay those concerns, if the payoff outweighs them.

  • Make benefits tangible, using real, specific scenarios. Clearly communicate how sharing data will improve the advice experience or the outcomes they achieve. For instance, you could explain how sharing pension data may lead to a lower tax bill. Another example: “By sharing your bank transaction details, we can assess if there are better rates available in seconds, potentially reducing your monthly repayments.”
  • Timing is crucial. Ask too soon, and the value exchange might not be clear, putting people off completely. Ensure you ask for data at the right time and right place in the user journey, to reinforce the value exchange and relevance. The mortgage broker got this wrong.

2. Request data in stages, show value and progress each time

Show the client that each thing they share delivers some benefit.

If you ask clients for multiple data sources, consider asking for them in stages. At each stage, show the user some of the value their data is providing.

  • Start small, grow gradually. Begin with less sensitive data requests and gradually move to more comprehensive data sharing, as trust builds.
  • Show immediate value. After each successful request, give something of use back to the client before moving on. For instance, after asking for access to someone’s bank transactions, show them their average income and expenses, or a breakdown of their expense categories.
  • Show progress. Use indicators or other visualisations to show clients how each piece of shared data contributes to a more complete financial picture. Provide positive feedback to encourage continuation.  

3. Be flexible

Don’t make clients feel that they need to submit everything in advance.

Don’t enforce strict rules about the data clients need to provide digitally. The same data feels more sensitive to some people than others.

  • Offer alternatives. If someone’s not comfortable sharing certain data online, offer them an alternative route. Accept that for some, personal engagement may be necessary.
  • Allow partial sharing. Enable clients to choose which accounts or data sources they’re comfortable sharing, rather than an all-or-nothing approach.
  • Provide clear opt-outs. Make it easy for clients to understand how they can revoke access to their data at any time, reinforcing their sense of control.

People problems require a human-centred approach

These are just a few examples of how to approach Open Finance integration in financial advice. 

It offers huge potential. But remember that it’s a (complex) people problem as much as a (complicated) technology, data, and regulatory one. If we focus only on solving tech and data challenges, we’ll build impressive things that people don’t use. Like we did with Open Banking.

Let’s work together

We can make this a success, by building on what we’ve learned.

It’s exciting to think how financial advice will change as new data sources emerge, and – in tandem – the FCA overhauls the advice-guidance boundary. 

The advice gap is a real problem for real people. And it’s a £700 billion AUM opportunity. 

We have the skills to help you solve people problems, and reap the rewards.

Learn more about Transforming advice with Open Finance: three UX strategies

Stu Charlton

Reach out to Stu Charlton

Strategic Director

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