"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-b

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