SWIFT published a blueprint for common API standards following collaboration with European banking standards bodies, STET and Berlin Group NextGenPSD2, which together represent many of the region’s banks and payment service providers.
As pressure from regulators and customers shift banking towards more open access to financial services, SWIFT is playing a lead role in unlocking the potential of API technology by providing the neutral collaboration platform to develop the common data standards the industry needs.
SWIFT’s white paper, Towards a global platform for the Financial Services API economy, concludes that a successful transition to an API-based financial ecosystem is only possible if financial standards bodies converge towards a shared business standardization methodology.
Regulators around the world have identified the need for interoperability among financial institutions as they move towards a more open banking model. SWIFT, STET and Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 are at the centre of efforts to avoid fragmentation, isolation, and the needless complexities that will frustrate attempts to build the value-added services that customers want.
SWIFT is working to minimize inefficiencies caused by differing regulatory specifications that could limit opportunities for common API frameworks across different regions and potentially require different solutions for every market. The cooperative has lent its long-standing expertise in standards, specifically ISO 20022 – the standard for electronic data interchange between financial institutions – to work alongside STET and Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 in Europe to define the building blocks for the new services that will spring from the new API economy.