Open Banking In Estonia: Adoption, Regulations And The Future

Estonia consistently ranks among Europe’s most digitally mature nations. With near-universal internet access, very high online banking usage, and a government built on interoperable APIs, open banking seems like a natural fit. But just how far has Estonia gone on this journey, and what does it mean for online merchants and fintech professionals? In this article, we break down regulations, infrastructure, market readiness, and providers, as well as how Noda’s full-stack platform empowers payments, data, and analytics, leading the market of open banking in Europe.

What Is Open Banking?

Open banking is a new, innovative, and efficient way to manage finances and make direct payments without incurring extra costs. In short, it lets individuals and businesses share bank account information and initiate payments via secure APIs (application programming interfaces), which act as a bridge facilitating secure and seamless financial data sharing between banks, merchants, and other financial service providers.

Furthermore, open banking services like Noda allow merchants to securely access customer banking information with their consent. This not only helps them understand their spending habits, creditworthiness, and personal preferences but also allows them to offer products and services that better suit their customers.

Thanks to open banking solutions, customers can easily and intuitively try new payment options. These can include direct bank transfers, instant payments, and even personalised financing features, creating flexibility for customers and reducing friction in the purchasing process.

How Does Open Banking Work in Estonia?

Estonia’s digital base is remarkable: over 92% have internet access, 89% use online banking, and 99% of online payments are digital. Estonians use authentication services via standardised national systems like Smart-ID and e‑ID (both eIDAS-compliant), which feed directly into PSD2 flows.

Estonia, as a relatively small market in comparison to some other European nations, has only around 35 banks operating in it. The top 4 banks in Estonia (Luminor Bank, Swedbank, SEB Pank and LHV Pank) hold, respectively 28.1%, 27.7%, 16.1% and 14.1% of customer accounts.

As of 2025, every licensed bank in Estonia is a part of the SEPA schemes and the vast majority of them offer PSD2 APIs built on the Berlin Group’s NextGenPSD2 standard. These banks support real-time payment rails, such as SEPA Instant and RT1, and maintain developer portals for sandbox and production environments.

Estonia Open Banking Overview: Adoption, Providers and Chances for the Future

The Estonian ecosystem includes nine banks with PSD2 portals, around seven licensed TPPs, and over 20 separate API endpoints. With 80+ fintech and a government ranked first in DESI 2022 for digital public services, the ecosystem is growing rapidly. Standardising APIs and reducing downtime remain priorities.

Open Banking Adoption in Estonia

Estonia is virtually cashless, with 99% of online payments made digitally, and the shift to open banking payments is well underway. While cards remain the dominant method at checkout, it's very common for local e-commerce platforms to offer “pay by bank” options or direct bank links, reflecting the population’s familiarity with using their bank accounts for everyday transactions. Banks and providers are steadily expanding account payment offerings; for example, Coop Pank partnered with Tietoevry to launch PSD2 APIs, enabling open banking payments across 320 retail stores, with transaction volumes seeing a steady rise. There are three main branches of e-commerce payment providers in Estonia:

1. Local open banking gateways – Platforms like Noda and Maksekeskus specialise in integrating open banking into e-commerce. They offer bank-based checkout options that comply with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and support real-time status updates via webhooks.
2. Global payment processors – Companies like Stripe and Adyen serve Estonian merchants with a mix of traditional card payments and open banking-based methods. While their core focus remains cards, they are gradually incorporating account-to-account (A2A) options as part of broader European trends.
3. Local banks – Estonian banks themselves also provide e-commerce payment solutions, often combining card processing with direct bank payment options. These in-house systems support merchants who want integrated services backed by local financial institutions.

As Payment Initiation Services (PIS) grow in adoption, players across all three categories are increasingly embracing account-to-account payment rails alongside cards, enabling faster, more secure checkout experiences.

Estonia’s very high adoption of open banking makes it feel more than ready to take the next step into the world of open finance. As a largely digitised nation, with much of the population and merchants ready to test out new forms of banking, it is perhaps just a matter of time and information until Estonia becomes one of leaders of open banking in Europe, if it isn’t already.

Open Banking Providers in Estonia

Estonian and broader Baltic providers include:

• Noda: Our unified API provides payments and data access across all Estonian banks and 2,000+ global institutions—delivered via API, e-commerce plugins and no-code payment solutions like payment links.
• Maksekeskus: The leading Estonian e-commerce payment service provider offers bank link (open banking) integrations with major Estonian banks for seamless merchant checkouts and account information services
• Swedbank and SEB: Offer PSD2-compliant APIs with bank-grade security.
• Luminor, LHV and Nordea: Luminor offers PSD2-compliant account information and payment initiation APIs across the Baltics, LHV provides RESTful Berlin Group-based open banking APIs for payments and data access.
• Creditinfo Eesti: A licensed AISP offering AIS combined with credit bureau analytics.
• Pan-European platforms: TrueLayer, Yapily and tens of other platforms support Estonian banks.

Future of Open Banking in Estonia

Estonia’s adoption of open banking has been extremely wide, especially in recent years. Right now, the country is well-positioned for an even larger transition towards open finance. E-ID and Smart-ID underpin new data flows in insurance, investments, pensions, and more, making open banking solutions present in every branch of the market. PSD3 legislation set for 2027–28 will codify this shift. API consolidation across banks will improve uptime and standardisation while fintech scale solutions in lending, wealth tech, and payment services.

Global providers are entering the Baltic market, expanding ecosystem depth. Noda is preparing ahead with its multi-product APIs, facilitation of instant payments for ecommerce and other industries, and ensuring merchants can swiftly adopt new innovation as it arrives.

Expand to Estonia with Noda

Estonia is prime for open banking-powered e-commerce: 91% of Estonians use internet banking with a strong appetite for faster, seamless payment methods.

Why choose us for Estonia:

1. Comprehensive bank coverage
Connect to all major Estonian banks (Swedbank, SEB, LHV, Coop Pank, Inbank, and more), plus access 2,000+ banks across Europe through a single integration.

2. Extremely low fees
Keep margins high with transaction costs starting around 0.1%, giving Estonian merchants a competitive pricing edge.

3. Instant settlement
Funds hit merchant accounts in seconds via instant account-to-account rails—no card networks involved, no delays.

4. Effortless integration
Launch in minutes on platforms like WooCommerce, Magento, Prestashop, OpenCart—or via custom API.

5. Multi‑rail payment support
Seamlessly combine open banking, card payments, Apple Pay, and Google Pay into one unified platform for maximum flexibility.

6. No‑code payment solutions
Generate payment links and QR codes instantly—accept bank payments without touching a line of code.

7. Dedicated local support
Get a dedicated account manager during onboarding and beyond, ensuring smooth setup and ongoing assistance.

Contact Noda for a no-obligation demo. Our open banking experts will be happy to look into your unique business case.