Open Banking in Brazil: A “Disruptive Step” Towards the Increasing of Competition in the National Financial Sector and Consumers’ Welfare?

Following an upward trend in the global agenda for digital-driven economies, Open Banking has emerged as a hot topic in Brazil. Since 2018, the Central Bank of Brazil has been playing a major role to stimulate debates and foster initiatives aimed at developing a national Open Banking framework as a measure with the potential to add new features and change the course of the Brazilian financial sector, so as to pave the way for a more competitive, efficient, innovative, transparent and inclusive financial system able to better address customers’ needs, besides empowering them with control over their personal data. However, in order to secure positive effects on both the national economy and society at large, the implementation of a suitable framework in Brazil requires that the protection of personal data, the financial awareness and the privacy rights remain at the foreground of the design of Open Banking products and services.

By Eduardo Caminati Anders, Marcio de C. S. Bueno, Guilherme Misale & Tatiane Siqui¹

I. THE ROLLOUT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF OPEN BANKING IN BRAZIL, IN A NUTSHELL

Open Banking has emerged as a worldwide agenda regarding the financial sector and is a buzzword when discussing policy frameworks to promote competition among financial players.²

As a matter of fact, the Brazilian landscape reflects this take. In recent years, both regulatory and competition authorities and customers have witnessed the consolidation of the national financial sector