Overview

The Open Banking connectors enable Account Servicing Payment Service Providers (ASPSPs) to become Open Banking compliant in two distinct regulatory markets:

• United Kingdom (UK) — compliance with Open Banking Limited (OBL) standards, the UK implementation of PSD2
• European Union (EU) — compliance with the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 framework under PSD2

Although both markets share the same Grand Central connector architecture, they follow different standards, payment rails, and API capabilities. The connectors let end users grant consent and securely share their account information with Account Information Service Providers (AISPs). The connectors also let Card-Based Payment Instrument Issuers (CBPIIs) use Confirmation of Funds (CoF) to check fund availability, as defined in PSD2 Article 65. This promotes innovation and inclusion in the financial ecosystem. The Backbase Open Banking Compliance solution works in partnership with Salt Edge, which is Backbase’s compliance partner for Open Banking in the UK and EU. The solution uses bi-directional connectors from Grand Central that integrate with Salt Edge and the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform (EBP). These connectors provide seamless consent management, account information sharing, and payment initiation while maintaining regulatory compliance.

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Supported standards

Grand Central exposes a single Unified API for Open Banking. The scheme path parameter on consent operations identifies the standard in use: Both standards use the same connector architecture: Salt Edge manages consent and TPP connectivity, and Backbase EBP connectors retrieve account and transaction data from the digital banking platform.

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Feature support by standard

The connectors provide the same core capabilities for both OBL and Berlin Group, with the following differences: The connector provides the following features:

• Streamline consent management by validating authorization requests from AISPs and synchronizing consent status across systems, ensuring regulatory compliance with PSD2, OBL, and Berlin Group standards.
• Enable secure account information sharing by letting AISPs retrieve account details and balances from the ASPSP’s digital banking platform with proper consent and authentication.
• Enable transaction data access by letting AISPs retrieve transaction data from customer accounts, supporting financial aggregation and analysis services.
• Support consent revocation workflows by letting customers revoke previously granted consents, giving them control over their data sharing preferences.
• Support Confirmation of Funds (CoF) by letting Card-Based Payment Instrument Issuers (CBPIIs) verify whether a customer has sufficient funds before authorizing a card payment, as defined in PSD2 Article 65.

For UK OBL deployments, the connector additionally supports AIS Conditional endpoints and the retrieval of scheduled payments and standing orders associated with a consented account. For Berlin Group deployments, the connector additionally supports payment cancellation through a PIS delete payment endpoint. For information about the Grand Central Unified API endpoints that support these features, see Reference.

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Supported payment types

Payment Initiation Services (PIS) support different payment rails depending on the market: These payment types map to the domestic and international payment schemes available in each market. UK deployments use CHAPS for high-value same-day sterling payments and FPS (Faster Payments) for near-real-time domestic payments. EU deployments use SEPA Credit Transfer for standard euro transfers, SEPA Instant for real-time euro transfers, and Cross-border for international non-SEPA payments.

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Consent management

The Salt Edge servicing consent connector manages the consent lifecycle between the ASPSP, Salt Edge, and third-party providers (TPPs). This connector:

• Initiates the consent granting flow by validating authorization URLs received from AISPs or PISPs when customers are redirected to the ASPSP’s digital banking app.
• Updates consent status by synchronizing approved or declined consents from the ASPSP to Salt Edge and the requesting TPP.
• Synchronizes consent revocation by propagating revoked consents from the ASPSP to Salt Edge and the TPP, ensuring all parties know about consent status changes.

The same consent endpoints serve both OBL and Berlin Group flows. Use the scheme path parameter (ob or bg) to identify the standard when revoking a consent.

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Account information retrieval

The Backbase EBP deposit connector lets AISPs retrieve account and balance information from the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform. This connector lets AISPs fetch account details and current balances for deposit accounts that customers have consented to share.

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Transaction data access

The Backbase EBP deposit transaction connector lets AISPs retrieve transaction data from the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform. This connector lets AISPs fetch transaction data for deposit accounts that customers have consented to share, supporting services such as financial aggregation and spending analysis.

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Consent revocation

The Backbase EBP servicing consent connector lets TPPs revoke consents stored within the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform. This connector lets customers withdraw previously granted consents, ensuring they maintain control over their data sharing preferences.

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Confirmation of funds

The Open Banking connectors support Confirmation of Funds (CoF), a PSD2 capability defined in Article 65. CoF lets a bank confirm whether a customer has sufficient funds available in their account. CBPIIs use this check before authorizing a card-based payment, which helps reduce the risk of failed or declined card transactions.

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Payment initiation

The Open Banking connectors route Payment Initiation Services (PIS) consents through the same consent endpoints, using pis as the type value. PIS is a PSD2 capability that lets a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) initiate a payment on a customer’s behalf, with the customer’s consent. Supported payment types differ by market. See Supported payment types for the payment rails available in the UK and EU.

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Delete payment (Berlin Group only)

For Berlin Group deployments, the connectors support payment cancellation through a PIS delete payment endpoint. This lets a TPP cancel an outstanding or unprocessed payment before it is booked, as defined by the Berlin Group standard. UK OBL deployments don’t support payment cancellation through a delete payment endpoint.

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AIS Conditional endpoints (OBL only)

For UK OBL deployments, the connectors support AIS Conditional endpoints. These endpoints let AISPs retrieve conditional account information — specifically, the list of standing orders and future scheduled payments associated with a consented account — as defined by the OBL standard. The Backbase EBP payment order connector handles these requests, supporting AIS Conditional API use cases for UK deployments. Berlin Group deployments don’t support AIS Conditional endpoints because the Berlin Group standard doesn’t define equivalent functionality. For definitions of Open Banking terms used on this page, such as AISP, ASPSP, CBPII, CoF, OBL, PIS, PISP, PSD2, and TPP, see the Glossary.