BBVA launches open banking business
BBVA has unveiled its open banking programme and is making eight of its APIs commercially available for the first time.
The launch of BBVA API Market comes after the Spanish bank says it spent more than a year working with developers and businesses to prepare the way the open API service would be delivered.
With the eight APIs now available, it says companies, start-ups and developers will be able to build new products and services by accessing and integrating customers’ banking data – with their permission – into their applications.
Derek White, global head of customer solutions at BBVA, says: “Not only are we adapting to EU standard PSD2, which aims to boost competition in the industry, but are actually aiming to become the best platform on which to build new digital experiences.”
Initially, only Spanish customers of BBVA will be able to use this market – but it intends to roll the programme out to its US customers later this year, followed by Turkey, Mexico, Latin America and other unspecified regions.
BBVA explains that companies from “anywhere in the world” will be able to apply to use the individual customer data sets from Spain – “provided of course the customer wants them to, and gives permission”. There will also be some anonymous aggregated data sets made commercially available – with the data broken down geographically or by sector.
The bank adds that it is already working with IBEX 35 companies (i.e. the Spanish Exchange Index) in its domestic market, and also with management software vendors, such as Anfix, Simplygest and Sage.
