An expert conversation: approaches to open banking

A significant shift has occurred in viewing APIs as products. There is a growing trend of banks exploring marketplaces and embedded finance, where banks offer their services through APIs to fintechs, allowing them to integrate these services into their applications.

Strategies for open banking 

When planning an API journey, each bank needs to formulate its API strategy, deciding on embedded offerings, building a marketplace, or maintaining compliance. Technical considerations include finding assessing internal IT capabilities and/or the right partner or platform, and establishing a reliable API management platform with essential features like a development portal, sandbox for testing, and standardized frameworks.

Challenges in implementing open banking initiatives revolve around technology and understanding identified as significant obstacles. Many banks struggle with adapting to new technologies like microservices and understanding the complexities of creating products based on APIs. The need for competent IT resources is highlighted to overcome these challenges.

Open banking has evolved beyond compliance and is now seen as a potential revenue-generating stream through models like embedded finance and marketplaces. Challenges persist, requiring banks to navigate technical complexities and enhance their understanding of API products to fully capitalize on the opportunities presented by open banking.