While APIs are becoming increasingly popular and more important across a range of industries, they still have issues to be resolved. Using APIs to create an inter-connected network of banks, businesses and consumers means there’s more of a need for security, especially as consumers grow more concerned with who is using their data, and why.
In the December B2B API Tracker, PYMNTS explores where businesses are using APIs now, what they’re using them for, and how data and security concerns are being handled as API-powered networks grow more common around the globe.
Around the B2B API World
As commerce continues to move online, more and more businesses are looking to use APIs to power payments.
Card network Visa, for instance, recently partnered with payment processor Stripe to offer instant payments to both businesses and consumers. The partnership will rely on the API-powered Visa Direct network to transfer funds.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, banking technology provider Cashplus is working to create instant payments for SMBs. The company recently unveiled a new API designed to let such businesses initiate payments for payroll and accounting uses.
The connectivity provided by APIs has its downside, however, as both the United States Postal Service and eCommerce giant Amazon recently learned. Both organizations saw API-based breaches earlier in the year, which in the case of USPS, could have led to data exposures for more than 60 million corporate users.
API Testing, Data and the Impact of PSD2
The use of APIs is steadily growing across the global economy, as banks and businesses come to rely on these platforms more and more to move money. With that in mind, it’s imperative to have a place to test out a new API before it’s set to go live, especially as new concerns over data security and use arise.
As PSD2 solidifies in the European Union, European banks are going to pull ahead of their U.S. competitors when it comes to where and how they’re using APIs, Poulin said.
“A lot of these European banks are also based in the U.S., these are global banks, and they’re going to have a huge jumpstart in terms of the innovation behind their apps, and their web platforms and how they work with small businesses,” Poulin said.
Read more inside the Tracker.
About the Tracker
The B2B API Tracker™ serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends along with a provider directory highlighting the key players contributing across the segments that comprise the B2B API ecosystem.