Credit Card Issuers on Notice as Visa Shifts Open Banking Business Abroad

Visa is pulling back from its U.S. open banking efforts, according to a recent Bloomberg report, deepening uncertainty for credit card issuers in 2025 as global payment giants take opposing stances on the model.

Developments in open banking could influence issuers’ underwriting practices, fraud-fighting capabilities, and even the marketing strategies they use to engage prospective and current cardholders.

Visa isn’t abandoning its work on open banking entirely, but a company spokesperson told Bloomberg that it’s shifting it to markets outside the U.S., including Europe and Latin America.

When Visa announces a move of this magnitude, stakeholders should listen. In terms of purchase volume, Visa is the largest credit card network in the U.S., topping Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. 

Smaller credit card companies can often look to Visa’s ’s approach to newer initiatives like open banking for guidance on how to shape their own strategies.

Visa now plans to focus its open banking operations in other markets, including Europe and Latin America.

Visa’s shifting stance on open banking, combined with mixed signals from other major players in the card ecosystem, may be creating more confusion than clarity for industry observers.

For starters, Mastercard, the country’s second-largest card network by purchase volume, is singing a much different tune when it comes to open banking. The company’s CEO, Michael Miebach, gave open banking a veritable stamp of approval during the company’s earnings call for the second quarter of 2025.

“Our fundamental belief is that consumer consented data and their ability to share that is very important, and that will be a winning proposition over time,” Miebach said, according to Payments Dive. 

“This whole idea that a consumer can use their data footprint to avail themselves of better services in the finance space … I think it’s a good notion and it generally resonates and will not go away,” he added.

Although Miebach spoke only a month ago, the landscape has already shifted. He predicted that open banking is here to stay, but in the near term its momentum is fading — as reflected in Visa’s decision to downsize its operations.

And other leaders in the credit card arena have created more uncertainty about the course open banking may follow in the near future.

JPMorgan Chase, the largest commercial bank in the U.S., revealed earlier this summer that it will start charging fees to fintech companies for accessing customer banking information.

Other large banks may follow suit, leading to questions about just how much open banking will impact the credit card industry if data aggregators can’t afford the costs issuers charge for accessing data.

Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase’s CEO, made his views on open banking — and who stands to benefit from it — clear in a letter his company released to shareholders earlier this year. In the letter, Dimon said third parties seek full access to customer data from banks so they can exploit the information for their own financial gain.

“Contrary to what you may read, we have no problem with data sharing but only if it is done properly,” Dimon said, adding that third parties shouldn’t be able to access the banking system or payment rails for free.

Alex Johnson, Founder of Fintech Takes, recently suggested in a LinkedIn post that Visa’s decision to shutter its U.S.-based open banking plans may be tied to JPMorgan Chase’s views on the matter. 

Johnson wrote that Visa’s explanation that points to regulatory uncertainty as the reason for shutting down its open banking business in the U.S. — and is not related to JPMorgan Chase’s recent open banking moves — doesn’t hold water.

As major payment networks and banks pursue different strategies for open banking, smaller issuers may need to rely on projections to gauge how open banking will impact their operations.

Credit card fraud remains a major headache for issuers in 2025. It is the main form of identity theft in the U.S., with cases spiking nearly 50% from the first quarter of 2024 to the same time in 2025, according to a recent report.

But open banking may be just the ticket issuers need to improve efforts to fight fraud. Strong underwriting practices can help issuers more accurately verify the identity of applicants and spot stolen or synthetic identities.

Sam Boro, an attorney with Perkins Coie who advises banks, merchants, and fintech companies, told us that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule on rights for personal financial data may give issuers more information they can use in their underwriting processes.

Issuers can benefit by bringing more financial data points into their review of an applicant’s creditworthiness.

“This could benefit issuers as they determine the creditworthiness of consumers based on new data made available through open banking protocols, such as bank account balances and cash flow data,” Boro said.

The bureau is currently working to amend the open banking regulations it came up with less than a year ago. 

But greater data sharing may also bring issuers more competition, including on the credit card rewards front. Boro said when issuers make more information about the terms of service for their reward programs available, it will make it easier for people to evaluate one program against another.

“When more details are available about credit cards, third-party aggregators can present more detailed comparison shopping opportunities to consumers,” Boro said. “This takes some of the marketing control away from issuers and puts it in the hands of third parties that are not associated with the financial institutions.”