Account information services

PSD2 defines an account information service as an online service that provides consolidated information on one or more payment accounts the user holds with other payment service providers. The provider, an AISP, has read-only access: it sees balances and transactions but cannot start a payment or move funds.

The data feeds products that a bank statement alone does not. Multibanking apps show all accounts in one view, accounting software pulls in business transactions, and lenders use account data for credit scoring when assessing applications for lending in Germany.

A firm that offers only account information services needs a registration under section 34 of the ZAG, not the authorization a payment institution needs under section 10. The application describes the business model and plan, governance, security procedures, data protection, contingency plans, the organizational structure and the managers. BaFin decides within three months, and an application still incomplete after twelve months is rejected.

Instead of initial capital, the AISP needs professional indemnity insurance or a comparable guarantee under section 36 ZAG, which covers its liability toward banks and customers. A registered AISP appears in the BaFin register of ZAG institutions and can offer its service across the EEA after notification.

German banks give AISPs access through dedicated interfaces, most of them built on the NextGenPSD2 standard of the Berlin Group. The customer confirms access with strong customer authentication at the bank. Since an amendment of the EU technical standards, that confirmation for an AISP is renewed every 180 days instead of every 90, as the EBA announced.

Data beyond PSD2, such as premium API services, can be priced under the SPAA scheme. The proposed FIDA regulation would extend the access model to savings, investment, pension and insurance data, and PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation keep and tighten the PSD2 access rules.

Finance Loop is the meeting place for people who build and supervise open banking in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: AISPs, the bank teams behind the PSD2 interfaces, lenders that use account data and the compliance staff of all of them. Finance Loop connects the finance, IT and AI communities, with events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.

Finance Loop is a partner of the Digital Euro Association, whose Digital Euro Conference in Frankfurt covers digital money infrastructure next to open banking. Finance Loop also announced KI Exchange 2026 in Hamburg, where data and AI in banking were on the program.

An AISP is a firm that, with the customer's consent, reads data from the customer's payment accounts at other banks and shows it in one place or uses it for a service such as accounting or a credit check. The AISP can only read account data and cannot make payments.

An AISP needs a registration with BaFin under section 34 ZAG, which is lighter than a payment institution license, plus professional indemnity insurance. An AISP registered in another EEA country can passport its service into Germany.

The customer confirms access every 180 days through strong customer authentication at the bank. The original technical standards set 90 days, and an amendment proposed by the EBA extended the period.