---
title: "What is Open finance? | IslamicOpenFinance™"
description: "Customer-permissioned sharing of financial data, and initiation of services, by licensed third parties through secure interfaces."
url: https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/open-finance/
lang: en-GB
source: "IslamicOpenFinance"
---

[Glossary](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/) / [Open finance and APIs](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/#open-finance)

Open finance and APIs

# Open finance

Customer-permissioned sharing of financial data, and initiation of services, by licensed third parties through secure interfaces.

Open finance extends open banking beyond payment accounts to products such as savings, financing, insurance and investments, letting customers authorise licensed third parties to access their data or initiate services. The Central Bank of the UAE's Open Finance Regulation defines open finance services as data sharing and service initiation and makes both subject to the user's express consent, authentication and secure communication. For Islamic products, the same interfaces carry contracts with different structures underneath.

## Sources

- [Central Bank of the UAE Rulebook, Open Finance Regulation: Article 1, Definitions; scope](https://rulebook.centralbank.ae/en/rulebook/open-finance-regulation)

This entry explains a term; it is not a Shariah ruling. Approving a product is for each institution's own Shariah board and regulator.

## Related terms

[**Consent (open finance)** The customer's explicit, informed permission for a provider to access specified data or initiate a transaction.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/consent/) [**Data sharing (open finance)** An open finance service that gives a customer a consolidated view of their data from one or more institutions.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/data-sharing/) [**Service initiation** An open finance service in which a licensed provider initiates a transaction on a customer's account or product, with consent.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/service-initiation/) [**Application programming interface (API)** A defined way for software systems to request data or actions from each other; the technical channel of open finance.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/api/) [**Open finance provider** A firm licensed to offer data sharing or service initiation to customers under an open finance regime.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/open-finance-provider/)

**Open finance and APIs**

1. [Application programming interface (API)](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/api/)
2. [Consent (open finance)](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/consent/)
3. [Data sharing (open finance)](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/data-sharing/)
4. [Service initiation](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/service-initiation/)
5. [Data holder](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/data-holder/)
6. [Open finance provider](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/open-finance-provider/)
7. [API hub](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/api-hub/)
8. [Strong customer authentication](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/strong-customer-authentication/)

[All 221 terms](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/)