API3 and Open Bank Project Initiate a 10-Year Development Partnership to Bridge Open Banking With Web 3.0
We are beyond excited to announce that API3 has formed a 10-year development partnership with Open Bank Project, the leading Open API middleware provider for the banking industry, and a global pioneer in the area of open banking. The partnership represents a historic milestone in the convergence of banking and the Web 3.0, as Open Bank Project’s over 400 banking and open banking APIs will be made directly blockchain-compatible in a highly secure and compliant manner via API3’s Airnode. In addition, Open Bank Project and API3 will collaborate to promote the adoption of direct, Airnode-powered blockchain-banking connectivity among Open Bank Project’s partner and client network, as well as host blockchain-themed developer tech sprints for Open Bank Project’s more than 11,000 open banking developers.
What Is Open Banking?
Open banking is a practice by which banks provide authorized third-party providers with access to banking data through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs). Open banking allows banks to keep up with the rapidly growing demand for highly customized financial technology services, and to work collaboratively with fintech startups in a way that respects and preserves customer data while allowing for rapid innovation of new financial products and services. Perhaps the most well-known open banking initiative is the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) — an EU regulation which came into force on 13 January 2018 and requires banks to create mechanisms that enable third-party providers to work securely, reliably and rapidly with the bank’s services and data on behalf and with the consent of their customers.
What Is the Open Bank Project?
As governments around the world have begun to adopt open banking regulations along with banks implementing open banking solutions, an industry-standard framework for providing third-party access to banking data has started to emerge. At the center of this framework are APIs that allow third party providers to interact with banking data to provide innovative financial applications to banking customers in a trusted manner. Open Bank Project is a global leader in this field by continuously working with government regulators and banks to help codify open banking standards, and by developing open banking APIs for many of the largest financial institutions in the world, including names like BNP Paribas, HSBC, Citibanamex, La Banque Postale and Santander. Regional standards and frameworks inspired and actively supported by the Open Bank Project include initiatives such as UK Open Banking, STET and Berlin Group.
Using best-of-breed technologies, Open Bank Project builds modular bridges between core banking systems and open banking infrastructure, enabling broad connectivity from legacy banking systems towards new and innovative financial applications built on open banking data. As a modular addition to Open Bank Project’s offering, Airnode further extends this connectivity to cover an entire universe of potential Web 3.0 use cases.
Open Banking On the Blockchain
Through the development partnership, Open Bank Project and API3 will enable banks to send data directly to blockchain networks through the use of API3’s Airnode first-party oracle. Enabling blockchain connectivity for banking and open banking APIs provides third-party application developers with the opportunity to begin rapidly prototyping blockchain solutions powered by open banking data. Potential use cases for banking and open banking data on blockchains are numerous, and include solutions like secure and decentralized databases for data verification between banks and authorized third parties, the bridging of banking and open banking data to blockchain-native systems like DeFi and self-sovereign identities, as well as data marketplaces and data unions enabling banking customers to monetize their private financial data.
What To Expect
As a part of the partnership, the two organizations will co-sponsor a series of Blockchain Tech Sprints, focused on solving defined challenges in the financial industry using blockchain technology and synthetic banking and open banking data. The tech sprints will help build a battle-tested blockchain-banking sandbox, as well as a foundation for regulators and banks to develop their respective open banking-Web 3.0 frameworks. We will be releasing more information about the Blockchain Tech Sprints in the coming days and weeks through this blog and API3’s Twitter handle.
To learn more about this historic partnership and to participate in the discussion through a live Q&A, join us for an open fireside chat between API3 co-founder Heikki Vänttinen and Open Bank Project CEO Simon Redfern on Monday April 26th at 6pm-7pm CET. The event will be streamed live on Youtube.
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