Direct Integration Standards vs Open Banking: What's the Difference? - The Briefing | On The Wire

"Open banking is the modern, superior approach." "Direct integration means custom work for every bank." Both takes are wrong, and they shape billion-euro infrastructure decisions in payment institutions every quarter.This briefing draws the actual line. Open banking is regulatory minimum - PSD2-mandated APIs that every European bank must provide, designed for compliance, optimised for e-commerce checkout redirects. Direct integration standards are protocol-based: banks opt in, gain access to all seven payment initiation methods (QR, NFC, BLE, links, SMS, barcode, audio recognition), and enable contexts open banking never specified - drive-throughs, festivals, ambient payments.Six minutes covering what each approach does well, where each fails, and why most serious payment networks run both: standards for the 60-75% of volume that concentrates in 10-15 strategic banks, open banking for the remaining 25-40% of accounts.Full episode for the architecture comparison, scenario-by-scenario performance, and the hybrid model.Full source material and the complete comparison: https://go.payware.eu/p-direct-vs-open-bProduced by payware - the transaction resolution network for instant A2A payments.AI-generated from payware's published research and documentation.