PRESS RELEASE – Berlin Group starts new openFinance API Framework
Today, the Berlin Group announces it will begin work on a full openFinance API (Application Programming Interface) Framework. Leveraging the NextGenPSD2 API Framework technology and infrastructure investments, openFinance allows banks and TPPs to offer enhanced services, products, and information that benefit market participants and further improve customer experiences. Berlin Group openFinance adds standardised extensions beyond the regulatory PSD2 scope that enable bank customers (consumer or corporate account owners), directly or via a Third Party Provider (TPP), to access bank accounts for commercial premium services and data. By expanding access to customers’ financial data across broader data sources and additional account types, the framework provides enhanced views of customers’ finances, empowering them to choose the best-value products and services they need.
Based on open industry standards (e.g. REST, JSON, ISO20022), the openFinance API Framework will offer a modern, harmonised and interoperable set of APIs as the safest and most efficient way to provide data securely. The Berlin Group will start by working on new services already requested by market participants, e.g., new payment functionalities such as Pay by Loan, Request-to-Pay and Reservation of Funds; direct access APIs for corporates and digital contracting; and SEPA Direct Debit eMandates. The framework will be extended to include new data elements and new account types, e.g., savings, loans, and securities accounts. Together with an Advisory Board, we will explore additional ideas, such as support for advanced customer journeys via subscription-based push notifications. In addition, the standardisation efforts of the new API Framework will be attuned to the ambitions of the European Commission’s Retail Payments Strategy and to any relevant scheme definition, either coming from national requirements or at European level, such as e.g. from a SEPA API Access Scheme as envisaged by the Euro Retail Payments Board (chair: European Central Bank).
The Berlin Group openFinance API Framework will integrate the work of the NextGenPSD2 API Framework in order to ensure future compliance with any additional regulatory clarifications.
The start of the openFinance API Framework was introduced to the market via a press release. You can find the full text of the press release here.