Low-Code/No-Code for Open Banking: Accelerating Compliance and Innovation

Open banking is fundamentally reshaping the financial services landscape, compelling banks and fintechs to open up their data and services through secure APIs. This regulatory shift is not just about compliance—it’s a catalyst for innovation, customer-centricity, and new business models. Yet, the journey to open banking is complex, requiring rapid adaptation to evolving standards, robust security, and seamless integration with legacy systems. Low-code and no-code (LCNC) platforms are emerging as powerful enablers, helping organizations accelerate their open banking strategies while reducing cost, risk, and time-to-market.

The Open Banking Imperative

Open banking regulations, such as PSD2 in Europe and similar mandates worldwide, require financial institutions to provide third-party access to customer data and payment services, with customer consent. This is unlocking new opportunities for collaboration, competition, and value creation. However, compliance demands agility: banks must quickly develop, test, and deploy APIs, ensure data privacy, and maintain a high standard of security. Traditional software development approaches can be slow and resource-intensive, making it difficult to keep pace with regulatory timelines and market expectations.

How Low-Code/No-Code Platforms Accelerate Compliance

Low-code and no-code platforms offer a visual, drag-and-drop approach to application and API development. By abstracting much of the underlying complexity, these platforms empower both technical and business users to build, modify, and deploy solutions rapidly. For open banking, this means:

Faster API Development: Pre-built connectors, templates, and reusable components allow teams to quickly assemble and expose APIs that meet open banking standards.
Rapid Prototyping and Iteration: Business and IT stakeholders can collaborate in real time, iterating on API designs and customer journeys without lengthy development cycles.
Automated Compliance Controls: Many platforms embed regulatory requirements—such as consent management, data masking, and audit trails—directly into workflows, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
Seamless Integration: LCNC tools are designed to integrate with legacy systems, cloud services, and third-party platforms, making it easier to orchestrate data flows and ensure interoperability.

Fostering Innovation in Customer-Facing Services

Open banking is not just about meeting regulatory requirements—it’s about unlocking new value for customers. LCNC platforms enable banks and fintechs to:

Experiment with New Products: Quickly launch and test new digital services, such as personal finance dashboards, payment initiation, or account aggregation, without heavy upfront investment.
Personalize Experiences: Leverage customer data to deliver tailored recommendations, offers, and insights, enhancing engagement and loyalty.
Respond to Market Changes: Adapt to new regulations, customer needs, or competitive threats with agility, updating APIs and services in days rather than months.

Overcoming Legacy and Integration Challenges

Many financial institutions are held back by aging, monolithic core banking systems that are costly to maintain and difficult to integrate. LCNC platforms help bridge this gap by enabling modular, cloud-native architectures. This approach allows banks to decouple critical functions from legacy cores, migrate incrementally, and integrate seamlessly with fintechs and ecosystem partners. The result is greater agility, scalability, and resilience—key attributes for thriving in the open banking era.

Practical Guidance: Governance, Collaboration, and Measuring Success

To maximize the benefits of LCNC in open banking, organizations should:

Adopt a Collaborative Mindset: Bring together business, compliance, and technology teams to co-create solutions, leveraging the accessibility of LCNC platforms.
Focus on Governance: Establish clear guidelines for API design, data security, and change management to ensure consistency and compliance as development accelerates.
Invest in Enablement: Provide training and support to empower a broader range of employees to participate in digital innovation.
Measure and Iterate: Use built-in analytics to monitor API usage, customer adoption, and compliance, refining solutions based on real-world feedback.

Success in open banking is measured by business outcomes, not just technical metrics. Track adoption, usage, and revenue generated by your API products. Use data-driven insights to refine your offerings and identify new opportunities for growth.

The Publicis Sapient Perspective: Low-Code/No-Code as a Strategic Accelerator

At Publicis Sapient, we see low-code/no-code as a strategic accelerator for open banking transformation. By combining deep industry expertise with modern engineering practices, we help financial institutions harness these platforms to achieve rapid compliance, drive innovation, and create new sources of value. Our approach emphasizes:

End-to-End Transformation: From ecosystem strategy and API management to platform modernization and partnership enablement, we deliver holistic solutions tailored to each client’s needs.
Agility and Speed: Leveraging LCNC, we enable banks to move fast, adapt continuously, and put the customer at the center of every decision.
Governance and Security: We embed cybersecurity and privacy best practices into every solution, ensuring compliance and building customer trust.

The future of open banking belongs to those who can move fast, adapt continuously, and put the customer at the center of every decision. Low-code/no-code is a key enabler on this journey—helping banks and fintechs not only meet regulatory requirements but also lead the market in customer experience, innovation, and growth.

Ready to accelerate your open banking strategy? Discover how Publicis Sapient can help you leverage low-code/no-code for compliance and innovation.