7 Best Banking API Providers in the UK (2025 Guide)

The UK’s open banking API market is growing rapidly, powering real-time payments and instant access to financial data. With PSD2 regulation and FCA oversight, businesses can now connect directly to bank accounts — creating faster, more secure financial products without card networks.

However, selecting the right banking API provider is a critical step. Differences in bank coverage, pricing transparency, and integration time can significantly affect how smoothly your product performs.

This 2025 guide compares seven of the best banking API providers in the UK — Finexer, Salt Edge, Yapily, Plaid, Tink, and TrueLayer to help you find the right fit for your business model, compliance needs, and technical setup.

📚 Guide to Integrating Banking API

1. Finexer

Finexer gives UK businesses secure access to live bank data and payment initiation through a single, modern API stack. Built for organisations that value accuracy, speed, and compliance, it simplifies data aggregation and payments without lengthy deployment cycles making it one of the best banking api Providers in the UK.

Coverage
Finexer connects to 99 % of UK banks, covering personal, business, and corporate accounts. Unlike other providers that restrict data access, Finexer sets no fetch or transaction limits, allowing firms to retrieve up to seven years of bank-transaction history in one connection.

Core Products

• Account Information Services (AIS): Real-time account data, categorised transactions, and ownership verification.
• Payment Initiation Services (PIS): Direct account-to-account payments, batch transfers, and automated receipts.
• White-Label APIs: Businesses can deliver their own branded experience while Finexer manages compliance and infrastructure.

Developer Experience
REST-based architecture with clear documentation, webhooks, and a free sandbox. Integrations are typically 2–3x faster than the UK average.

Pricing
Transparent usage-based pricing with no setup fees. Flexible tiers scale with business growth and transaction volume.

Best For
All UK-based businesses seeking unrestricted bank-data access, faster integration, and dependable compliance from a single provider.

2. Salt Edge

Salt Edge is one of the best banking API providers for businesses operating across multiple regions. It enables access to financial data and payment initiation through a single, globally connected API.

Coverage
Salt Edge connects to 5,000+ banks in over 50 countries, including more than 150 UK institutions. Its network covers Europe, North America, and Asia, making it ideal for cross-border financial applications.

Core Products

• Account Information API: Unified access to bank accounts, cards, and loans.
• Payment Initiation API: PSD2-compliant payments with secure authentication.
• Data Enrichment Platform: Converts raw bank transactions into categorised insights for analysis or credit assessment.

Developer Experience
Developers get detailed documentation, SDKs, and a sandbox that mirrors production environments. Salt Edge is ISO 27001 certified and licensed as an AISP, ensuring high data-security standards.

Pricing
Usage-based pricing with no setup fees. Costs scale with API calls and feature use, making it accessible for startups and enterprises alike.

Best For
Global fintechs and financial service platforms that need multi-country coverage with consistent performance and compliance.

3. Yapily

Yapily is a well-established name among UK banking API providers, offering infrastructure that supports both account data access and payment initiation for large-scale fintech operations

Coverage
Yapily connects to over 2,000 banks across 19 European countries, including major UK institutions. It supports consumer, business, and corporate accounts while maintaining consistent data formatting across all banks.

Core Products

• Payments API: Enables secure account-to-account payments under PSD2.
• Data API: Provides financial data, balances, and transaction details for analysis and verification.
• Variable Recurring Payments (VRP): Processes repeat transactions with pre-approved consent.

Developer Experience
A single, unified API handles both AIS and PIS functions. Yapily offers strong developer support with comprehensive documentation and a testing environment for live simulations.

Pricing
Structured around three main tiers — Starter, Growth, and Enterprise — combining base and usage-based costs depending on transaction volume.

Best For
Medium to large financial firms needing reliable open banking infrastructure for payments, lending, or account aggregation across multiple markets.

4. Plaid

Plaid is one of the best banking API providers for businesses needing cross-border connectivity. Originally US-based, it now serves the UK and Europe through PSD2-compliant APIs that link thousands of financial institutions.

Coverage
Plaid connects to 12 000 + banks worldwide, including major UK and EU institutions. Its network supports personal, business, and investment accounts, helping developers reach multiple markets through a single integration.

Core Products

• Account Information Services (AIS): Access transaction histories, balances, and account ownership data.
• Payment Initiation Services (PIS): Enable real-time bank-to-bank payments.
• Identity & Income APIs: Verify users and assess income directly from verified banking data.

Developer Experience
Plaid provides clear documentation, SDKs, and a sandbox for testing. JSON-based architecture and webhook notifications simplify deployment and data synchronisation.

Pricing
Tiered model with Pay-as-you-go, Growth, and Custom plans, depending on usage and region. UK customers generally fall under Custom arrangements.

Best For
Fintechs and global platforms that require international banking API integration and seamless data access across regions.

5. Tink

Tink, owned by Visa, is one of Europe’s most established banking API providers, offering payments, data access, and risk-decisioning tools under one platform..

Coverage
Tink connects to 3,400+ banks across 18 European countries, including major UK institutions. Its reach extends to over 250 million customers, making it suitable for cross-market financial applications.

Core Products

• Payments: Pay-by-bank, payouts, and variable recurring payments (VRPs).
• Account Data: Real-time account verification, transaction history, and balance checks.
• Risk & Insights: Income verification and spending analysis for lenders and financial platforms.

Developer Experience
REST-based API with SDKs for web and mobile. Tink maintains 99.9 % uptime and supports strong customer authentication under PSD2.

Pricing
Custom pricing based on product selection and usage. Enterprise features such as Risk Insights and Payment Initiation are available through direct engagement.

Best For
Banks, lenders, and fintechs seeking data-driven financial APIs backed by Visa’s infrastructure and European connectivity.

6. TrueLayer

TrueLayer is among the best banking API providers in Europe, known for its strong payment network and real-time data access. It powers open banking payments and identity verification for fintechs, e-commerce platforms, and financial services.

Coverage
TrueLayer connects to over 95 % of European bank accounts, including 98 % of UK banks. Its network is entirely API-based — no screen scraping — ensuring secure, high-quality connections.

Core Products

• Payments API: Handles one-off payments, refunds, payouts, and variable recurring payments (VRPs).
• Data API: Provides verified account information and transaction details.
• Verification API: Confirms account ownership by matching names against bank records.

Developer Experience
Offers SDKs for major platforms, hosted payment pages, and detailed documentation. Integration supports multiple programming languages for flexibility.

Pricing
Tiered pricing — Development, Scale, and Enterprise with custom rates for higher volumes.

Best For
Fintechs, marketplaces, and digital platforms seeking fast, secure pay-by-bank integration with strong European coverage.

7. Bud Financial

Bud Financial focuses on transaction data enrichment, offering one of the most advanced analytics-driven platforms among UK banking API providers. It helps businesses extract insights from financial data rather than just aggregate it.

Coverage
Bud connects to major UK and European banks, providing reliable access to consumer and business accounts. It’s especially recognised for its deep transaction categorisation and behavioural analysis capabilities.

Core Products

• Data Intelligence API: Converts raw bank data into structured, insight-ready information.
• Income & Affordability Checks: Verifies income streams and spending patterns for credit decisions.
• Risk Insights: Helps financial institutions detect irregular transactions and assess customer behaviour.

Developer Experience
Bud provides REST-based APIs with clear documentation and a sandbox for testing enrichment models. It supports real-time data retrieval with high accuracy.

Pricing
Custom pricing based on usage and data enrichment depth.

Best For
Lenders, fintechs, and analytics platforms that need advanced transaction insights and income verification APIs within the UK.

How to Choose a Banking API Provider

Selecting the right banking API provider depends on coverage, pricing, compliance, and developer support. Here’s what to evaluate before making a decision:

1. Coverage & Reach
Check how many UK and international banks each provider connects to.

• Finexer: 99% of UK banks
• TrueLayer: 95%+ Europe-wide
• Salt Edge: 5,000+ global banks
• Yapily: 2,000 across 19 countries

2. Data Access Depth
Some platforms restrict transaction history or fetch limits. Finexer allows up to seven years of unrestricted data, while others may limit access by time or call volume.

3. Integration & Developer Support
Look for clean documentation, webhooks, and sandbox environments. Finexer offers 2–3x faster setup than the UK average, while others focus on multi-region compatibility.

4. Pricing Model
Transparent, usage-based pricing is ideal. Finexer and Salt Edge both offer no setup fees, making them more flexible for scaling.

5. Compliance & Reliability
FCA alignment, PSD2 coverage, and uptime stability are essential. Choose providers with proven records in regulated environments.

Best Banking API Providers in the UK by Industry Use Case

Each business sector values different aspects of open banking connectivity. Here’s how the best banking API providers fit across key industries:

1. Financial Services & Lending
Platforms like Finexer and Bud Financial enable lenders to verify income, analyse spending patterns, and make faster credit decisions through real-time account data.

2. Accounting & Bookkeeping
Finexer’s unrestricted data access supports reconciliation, statement matching, and transaction categorisation for accounting firms that handle multiple client accounts daily.

3. E-Commerce & Payments
TrueLayer and Tink support pay-by-bank and refund APIs, ideal for checkout automation and faster settlements. Finexer also provides batch payments for supplier payouts and instant transfers.

4. Wealth & Investment Platforms
Plaid and Tink deliver the financial data feeds needed for portfolio tracking, asset verification, and investor onboarding.

5. Multi-Sector Enterprises
Salt Edge offers the widest cross-border coverage, while Finexer remains the most practical for UK-centric operations needing fast setup and dependable performance.

Wrapping Up

Choosing the right banking API provider determines how efficiently your product handles data, compliance, and payments. While several platforms serve the UK market, each has a distinct focus:

• Finexer leads for UK businesses needing unrestricted data access, instant payments, and flexible pricing.
• Salt Edge offers wide global coverage.
• Yapily, Plaid, and Tink specialise in cross-border connectivity.
• TrueLayer powers high-volume pay-by-bank use cases.
• Bud Financial provides deep data enrichment.

For most UK organisations, Finexer delivers the best balance of coverage, control, and cost without transaction limits or lengthy integrations.