The European Union has taken a decisive step toward reshaping the architecture of digital finance. In late September 2025, EU finance ministers agreed to advance the Financial Data Access (FiDA) Regulation, a cornerstone of Europe’s “open finance” framework that builds on PSD2 but extends far beyond banking.
Yet one aspect of the decision drew global attention: the exclusion of major Big Tech players — including Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon — from directly accessing or processing financial data within this regime.
While this may sound like a narrow regulatory decision, it is, in fact, a signal of how Europe intends to balance openness, competition, and digital sovereignty. It carries profound implications for the future of innovation, data governance, and inclusion — not only in Europe but also across Africa and other emerging markets.
From Open Banking to Strategic Autonomy
Europe pioneered the Open Banking revolution through PSD2, mandating banks to share customer data with third parties upon consent, to stimulate competition and consumer choice. FiDA represents the next chapter: a unified framework for sharing all types of financial data — from savings and insurance to pensions and investment — across the EU.
But the context has changed.
Data has become a strategic resource, not just a competitive asset. The dominance of global tech platforms in digital payments, wallets, and data ecosystems has raised new concerns about dependency, privacy, and control.
By excluding Big Tech, the EU is asserting “strategic autonomy” in digital finance — ensuring that the data of European consumers fuels European innovation first. It’s a shift from “open finance” as a market innovation project to “open finance” as a sovereignty project.
However, this raises a fundamental question: can innovation and sovereignty truly coexist?
Keeping Big Tech at the Door
The EU’s rationale is threefold:
- Consumer protection: safeguarding user data and preventing opaque profiling or cross-use of financial and non-financial data.
- Competition: ensuring smaller fintechs and EU-based players are not crushed by the scale and reach of global platforms.
- Sovereignty: preserving control over data flows and digital infrastructures that underpin financial systems.
The intention is laudable — but the trade-offs are real. Restricting access for Big Tech could slow innovation and limit interoperability, at least in the short term. Smaller firms may also face high compliance costs under FiDA’s technical and security standards, reducing the very openness the framework seeks to promote.
For consumers, the outcome depends on execution. If FiDA succeeds in creating a level playing field, Europeans could benefit from trusted, transparent, and interoperable financial services. If not, it risks entrenching incumbents and delaying inclusive innovation.
A Mirror for Africa: Lessons and Warnings
The European debate echoes a dilemma familiar to African policymakers: how to open digital ecosystems to foster innovation and inclusion — without ceding control to external actors.
In many African markets, global technology platforms provide the rails for digital services — from cloud computing to mobile operating systems, from app stores to payment gateways. This dependency brings both benefits and vulnerabilities.
A sudden change in platform policy, pricing, or compliance rules can disrupt entire ecosystems of local fintechs or digital merchants overnight.
The EU’s decision offers a mirror, not a model. Africa cannot simply replicate Europe’s regulatory playbook — but it can draw lessons:
- Build regional digital champions: Encourage African-owned data infrastructures, payment gateways, and cloud services that retain value locally.
- Design inclusive data governance frameworks: Ensure user consent, transparency, and equitable access for smaller innovators.
- Promote interoperability: Between regional markets (WAEMU, CEMAC, EAC, SADC) to create scale without reliance on non-African platforms.
- Balance protection with innovation: Excessive restriction risks stifling creativity and financial inclusion.
Inclusion does not depend solely on technology; it depends on the rules of access and trust that shape how technology is used.
Why Inclusion Starts with Data Literacy
For the promise of open finance to be inclusive, people must understand and control how their data is used.
In both Europe and Africa, data literacy remains a missing link in the inclusion agenda. Millions of users consent to data sharing without grasping the implications, while many micro-entrepreneurs lack the digital or financial literacy to assess data-driven offers.
Empowering users through data education — from understanding consent screens to managing digital identities — is now as critical as teaching financial basics.
In Africa, where digital financial services often reach first-time users of formal finance, the need is even greater. Without trust and comprehension, inclusion can quickly become exclusion through misunderstanding or misuse.
Policy Takeaways and Opportunities for Cooperation
The EU’s FiDA decision underscores a global truth: the governance of data is becoming as strategic as the governance of money.
To ensure this new era of data-driven finance remains inclusive, a few principles should guide both European and African policymakers:
- Proportional regulation: Ensure compliance obligations scale with the size and risk profile of the actor, keeping entry barriers low for startups and inclusive fintechs.
- Transparency & accountability: Build independent oversight bodies to monitor data use and enforce user rights.
- Regional cooperation: Align emerging African frameworks (e.g., AU Digital Transformation Strategy, Smart Africa Alliance) with Europe’s Global Gateway agenda to promote interoperability and investment.
- Donor engagement: Development partners should support regulatory capacity, digital infrastructure, and cross-border data frameworks that serve inclusion goals.
- Ethical use of AI and data: Ensure algorithmic fairness in credit scoring, pricing, and customer profiling.
If done right, FiDA and its counterparts could mark the beginning of a global ethics of data for inclusion, bridging innovation and trust.
Conclusion
Europe’s decision to draw boundaries around data access is not just about regulation; it’s about redefining digital sovereignty in finance.
For Africa, it’s a reminder that sovereignty and inclusion are not mutually exclusive — they are mutually reinforcing when anchored in sound governance, interoperability, and user empowerment.
As financial systems worldwide become more digital and data-driven, the real question is no longer whether we share data, but how and with whom — and under what principles of fairness, privacy, and accountability.
The future of inclusive finance will depend not only on technology, but on the integrity of the ecosystems we build around it.
Biography
Estelle BRACK scales impact-driven fintechs, connecting capital, talent, and projects to transform the future of financial services in Africa.
Estelle holds a Ph.D. in Economics & Banking and brings 25 years of operational experience in the financial sector — especially in Payments — with a global vision bridging Europe and Africa.
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