This private sector initiative creates a simple, accessible infrastructure for data exchange between financial institutions to enhance wealth management for clients and lead Open Finance in Europe.
Madrid, Thursday 15 January, 2026
Flanks, a leading European WealthTech company that is redefining the industry through automation and the generation of data-driven strategic insights, in collaboration with finReg360, Spain's leading regulatory advisory and consultancy firm for the financial sector, have announced the launch of EDX (European Data Exchange). This is the first standardised protocol for the exchange of financial position data between custodian banks, wealth managers, and advisory firms in Europe.
EDX establishes a common standard for the secure exchange of financial data between financial institutions, banks, wealth managers and advisors, and fills a fundamental gap in Europe's wealth management infrastructure. While markets such as the United States and Switzerland have standardised frameworks for the comprehensive exchange of financial position data—extending beyond current accounts—financial institutions in Europe lack such infrastructure. Currently, European financial entities operate through fragmented and incompatible systems that hinder effective management and client advisory, forcing professionals to dedicate a large portion of their time to manual data reconciliation instead of management and advisory tasks.
Fragmented data access prevents firms from providing the consolidated reporting that sophisticated, multi-custodial clients now expect from their lead financial partners.
The regulatory timing is critical. Europe’s Data Strategy, with the Data Act as its centerpiece, is driving a digital economy model centered on the secure and efficient exchange of data. This is further supported by the European Commission’s commitment to a data-driven financial sector, a key priority within its Digital Finance Strategy. Against this backdrop, the proposed Financial Data Access (FIDA) regulation, alongside the Retail Investment Strategy package, extends this data-sharing framework to the financial industry, paving the way for a more interoperable, competitive, and user-centric ecosystem.
Unlike the PSD2 regulation, which focused on payment transactions, FIDA will mandate standardised access to a complete wealth overview across the entire portfolio of investment accounts, pensions, insurance products, and alternative assets. The sector faces a strategic choice: adopt a standardised data infrastructure now through market-driven solutions like EDX, or face hurried, costly, and ineffective implementations, as occurred with PSD2.
EDX creates a standardised 'data highway' where financial information flows securely and automatically between entities, with full traceability and legal guarantees. The protocol preserves data sovereignty, ensuring that custodian banks maintain control while enabling the secure exchange of information under client consent. Unlike a software tool that requires complex integration, EDX acts as a common language that allows existing systems to communicate without the need to restructure their core databases. Furthermore, EDX is methodology-agnostic and integrates with custodians' existing infrastructures, whether through APIs, secure credential-based access when APIs are unavailable, or the ingestion of structured reports in the case of alternative assets. This prevents entities from having to rebuild their systems. EDX is not a software tool, but an infrastructure that defines a common operating standard for the request, authorisation, transmission, and validation of financial data between institutions.
This partnership combines Flanks' proven capacity to connect with more than 600 financial institutions across 33 countries (processing over 500,000 portfolios per month) with the regulatory expertise and assurance provided by finReg360. EDX resolves a key strategic challenge in the financial sector: delivering high-quality client services across all segments by offering complete, real-time information on all client positions. This comes at a time when financial advice and planning have become central to value propositions, yet the bespoke, comparable services clients now demand remain hindered by fragmented data access.
For clients, EDX provides real-time wealth visibility across all their institutions and asset classes. And for the European financial sector, it offers a practical infrastructure to advance Open Finance, while preserving institutional control over the client relationship and data governance.
Alvaro Morales, Cofounder and Chairman at Flanks commented, “We've spent years proving we can connect to any custodian, regardless of their technology, from tier-1 banks to boutique private banks that refuse standard APIs. EDX takes that expertise and establishes it as market-wide infrastructure for Europe: a common protocol that facilitates the exchange of position data in a secure, traceable manner and subject to client consent. The real innovation is creating a protocol that competing institutions will actually adopt. Data was once a bottleneck for many custodians, but EDX turns that into a competitive advantage that meets the rigorous legal requirements that banks and regulators demand.”
"We are certain that, in the coming years, the exchange of reliable, real-time data will be a reality in the sector. Clients will demand it, and financial institutions will provide better services; holistic, immediate, and tailored. Therefore, we believe that anticipating this and creating a common protocol is a competitive advantage. Partnering with an industry leader like Flanks gives us immense confidence, as we are perfectly aligned in both vision and values. Furthermore, at finReg360, we provide the strategic vision and regulatory framework necessary to protect client privacy and ensure institutions meet their fiduciary duties, while fostering the development of innovative new services.”, adds Jorge Ferrer, Cofounder at finReg360.
About finReg360
finReg360, founded in June 2016, is a professional services firm specialised in regulatory advisory and consultancy, focused exclusively on the financial services sector. In just 9 years since its creation, it has managed to position itself as the leading firm in Spain in this field, consolidating a highly specialised team of more than 70 professionals with extensive experience.
Through its five core business lines, Financial Regulation, Strategy and Operations, Financial Taxation, Data Protection, and New Technologies, the firm provides services to more than 1,000 clients, both domestic and international, operating in key sectors such as banking, the securities market, insurance, as well as large non-financial companies seeking to develop new business lines in the financial sphere.
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About Flanks
Flanks is a wealth management technology company (wealthtech) that is redefining the industry through automation and data-driven insights. Its modular and all-in-one solution empowers global financial institutions, including banks, family offices, asset managers, pension plan providers, and technology companies, to offer faster, higher-quality, and personalised advice by transforming complex and fragmented wealth data into valuable insights.
Flanks was founded in 2019 in Barcelona by Joaquim de la Cruz, Sergi Lao, and Álvaro Morales, former Global Head of Santander Private Banking. Currently, the company aggregates data from 600+ connections with global financial institutions and processes more than 500,000 portfolios per month in over 33 countries, managing assets worth more than €39 billion. For more information, visit flanks.io.
