Is Your API Reliable? How to define your API’s Reliability

API illustration (source: Luis gomes on Pexels)

Many financial institutions such as banks and e-wallet are competing to provide people with access to unlimited, affordable, seamless banking services and in real time. They also compete to upgrade their information technology, including using financial API.

As we grow into an interconnected world with daily needs being fulfilled with the palm of our hand, seamless connection from every sector is crucial. APIs could be the secret weapon in connecting the digital ecosystem. Without exception, finance is the crucial element for every sector of business. With the rise of intuitive APIs to support the infrastructure and ecosystem of the financial services business activities will likely bring dynamic to the business. Almost 60% of the API market is in the financial sector.

Application Programming Interfaces or APIs is the programming code that enables data transmission between one software product to another. An API will process the request to any destination and receive the response automatically. There are various forms of APIs in the financial hemisphere.

One of the more prominent APIs available right now is Verification API. With the rapid increase in online transactions volume, the risk of fraud has also been amplified. By utilizing verification API, financial platforms would be able to safely identify account information and verify transactions.

For example, when a restaurant manager transfers money for a supplier using a financial app, he needs to make sure the account holder shown as the destination account is valid and matches the supplier’s name listed in the bank account. Verification API as a technology enabler that bridges financial platforms to many financial institutions databases.

Verification API, while a powerful tool to have, is not sufficient to cover all the needs of the growth of the fintech industry. There are other APIs, such as payment API, transaction API, categorization API and many more. With the growing demand from financial services players, fintech companies are aggressively building various financial API themselves or by integrating with API providers to meet their needs. The latter may be most efficient for business. Financial API providers allow fintechs from several verticals to access customers’ data without having to build them from scratch, allowing for a more efficient data collection.

Unstoppable digital world. Is your API ready?

For financial businesses, such as banking, e-commerce, and payment, a lot of personal data is needed to provide customers with bespoke, personalised services. The ability to verify one’s personal data is thus essential to such financial businesses. Due to the sensitivity of the required data parameters, both financial institutions and their customers alike need to be able to trust the reliability of the provision of the data. Without the security assurance, most people would no doubt prefer not to utilise these innovative fintech products.

API reliability is related to data communication parameters such as accuracy, performance, and security. The only way to determine your API reliability is by testing it, including functional testing, negative testing, and destructive testing.

To deliver its functionality, API must be good at interaction (fast response time, accurate, secured), data access & transfer, and operation system. Some of these requirements include being:

1. Clean and without bugs: Bugs reduce the performance of an API, resulting in a waste of time and resources, causing a disappointing user experience;
2. Without data leak slack: security standards require zero data leak potency;
3. Matched with the expected specification: Users appreciate the hyper personalized API which match their expected specifications;
4. No regression between code merges & releases: Regression indicates ‘conflict’ in collaboration or integration;
5. Reasonable expected response time: While API processing takes time, the response time should not take too long;
6. Give back the expected response: After the request is sent, the API response time should match the requirement;
7. No missing/copy functionality: Missing functionality means invalid API, and copy functionality causes inefficient processing;
8. Date losses have to be 0%: Zero tolerance for data loss;
9. Understandable documentation: This facilitates developers in their testing and integration.

The standard quality of API will keep improving as technology continues to evolve. By ensuring the reliability of API being used, fintech companies invest their time and effort for a smooth running operation in the long run. End-users only stand to benefit from a better user experience!