23.5.2019
OP is developing a set of new APIs to meet the requirements and needs of businesses. The first Corporate Banking APIs are now available for testing in our sandbox.
Finnish businesses have been making use of electronic banking services via ERPs and finance systems for well over a decade. As such, they have much experience with financial integration interfaces.
Now, we are about to enter a new era in bank connectivity. We have just launched the first set of RESTful APIs for corporate banking. The two new API products are:
Starting with these APIs, we will gradually release a wide-ranging set of Corporate Banking API products for corporations, software vendors and authorized third-party service providers.
What changes from already existing transaction integration interfaces?
In transaction banking, integration interfaces have long been business-as-usual. So what exactly will change with the release of our new Corporate Banking APIs?
Firstly, the new APIs are a step up in technology. Our Corporate Banking APIs are built using well-known, battle-tested technologies such as JSON, REST, OAuth 2.0, and PKI/MTLS - just to mention a few.
Second, we now welcome a broader range of partners to use the APIs. Until recently, transaction banking services have only been available to client corporations or their financial service providers. But from now on, third-party partners are welcome to develop first-class services for corporate clients.
Our new APIs are designed for helping create new ways of using corporate account and payment data. With services built on top of them, corporate customers will be able to manage and run their operations and financials better than before. As an example, clients will have better and faster access to data, tracking and notifications in addition to the obvious payments and account reporting.
Even as we move forward with new services, you don’t need to worry about your old integration solutions. The current Web Services channel will remain up and running for a long time. However, from now on all new transaction banking services will be developed as API services.
Financial administration streamlined
RESTful APIs are a modern and simple way for accessing bank systems and services. By using APIs, developers get to hold the driver's seat in building new exciting services for end users.
The possibilities of OP’s APIs are many, and with them, you can create services that automate finance routines to the maximum. For example: you could fetch the details of an account transaction using the Corporate Accounts API. The transaction data at your disposal, you can trigger a payment creation and initiate the instant payment with the Corporate Payments API.
And how about missing details on an account transaction that can cause extra hassle in financial administration? Now it’s possible to develop an application, where an instant retrieval of account transactions triggers a notification of the missing details.
Solutions like these increase the level of automation and speed up time-to-market, allowing you to reap the benefits of a real-time economy. Eventually, both customers and employees will feel the difference.
Developed for machine-to-machine interaction
With the corporate user in mind, the new Corporate Banking APIs are designed for machine-to-machine interaction. Following frequent requests, we've implemented authentication and authorization measures that – unlike PSD2 APIs – require no human intervention.
Corporate Banking APIs differ from PSD2 APIs in other ways as well: for example, they do not require PSD2-type registration. But most importantly, the service range is considerably wider and it keeps on expanding! The two APIs currently available in the sandbox are only a start.
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Continuous collaboration with developers
For us, it’s always important to develop our APIs in close collaboration with their users. We want to hear your feedback early on, so that we can ensure high developer experience in our products. We also want to encourage developers to adopt and test our APIs. To this end, we offer pilot partnership opportunities to companies with interesting business cases.
The discussion on our Corporate Banking APIs has been encouraging, and we've already agreed on a pilot partnership with one external partner in the summer.
What kind of Corporate Banking APIs would you like to use? Maybe you have a great business idea to pitch? Send us an email at api@op.fi – we are always interested in hearing feedback and discussing piloting opportunities!