APIs

Bank of America is applying a familiar arsenal — including APIs and its popular virtual assistant, Erica — to online business banking, cross-border payments and cash management in an effort to modernize those services.

A shift to online payments and digital technology across the globe occurred at warp speed during the coronavirus pandemic, but that trend doesn't magically solve payments challenges in various markets, nor does it render the fundamentals of customer service less meaningful.

The ongoing pandemic and economic crisis should accelerate the adoption of payments as a service, APIs and open banking, says AFEX Americas' Christian Spaltenstein.

There’s no PSD2-style law requiring banks in the U.S. to share data with third-party payment apps, but the market is progressing as if there will be one, leaving some smaller banks at a disadvantage.

The company's new agreement with Envestnet Yodlee to share customers' account data over secure pipes is its 17th pact with aggregators and other fintech firms.

Credit and debit cards, merchant apps and loyalty programs are being linked through a platform from U.K-based Fidel to provide real-time rewards, business expense management, digital receipts, and charity donations.

Payments platform APEXX Global is working with PayPal to expand payment methods to e-commerce merchants using APEXX, including the addition of the Venmo P2P digital wallet.

ACH network steward Nacha says Visa has been added to its list of partners for a payment information exchange it is creating to help credentialed service providers share and manage electronic payments information for faster and more secure processing.

Home-service providers using Jobber software to manage their businesses now have access to Stripe Capital to obtain funds.

One of the many fraud risks coronavirus triggered is criminals leveraging stolen personal data to open bogus accounts, along with siphoning off credit card rewards, loyalty points and miles from consumers idled during pandemic-related lockdowns.

Speed isn't enough. There also has to be value and new products, says Icon Solutions' Toine Van Beusekom.

U.K. fintech Rapyd is offering clients the ability to accept all payment methods through one application interface, a digital service it says eliminates the need for companies to develop complicated payments infrastructures.

While open banking is a fascinating movement poised to benefit consumers and spark significant innovation in financial services, the world must weigh convenience vs. risk and approach the inherent privacy and security concerns with caution, says Imperva's Terry Ray.

By targeting the API rather than scripting a form fill, bad actors are leveraging the same efficiency and flexibility that APIs provide developers, says Cequence Security's Matt Keil.

The company, the product of a big merger shortly before the outbreak, had to build portals on the fly, help many customers shift to mobile and accomplish in days tasks that once took months, its digital chief says.

Cross River Bank, a banking-as-a-service provider to fintechs, has signed Remitly to leverage its new push-to-card international payment service for near-real-time remittances.

The short-term coronavirus response revealed most merchants will need a more robust option for digital payments — and that’s prompting fresh investment in what was expected to be a slow period.

At the start of 2020, the overriding security concern when it came to payments was fraud. After all, before the days of the global coronavirus pandemic, no one had really viewed hygiene as being a particular selling point.

With access to comprehensive and accurate financial data delivered through advanced APIs, financial services providers no longer have to develop personalized experiences themselves, argues Envestnet's Brandon Rembe.

In the tug-of-war between banks and third parties over who controls access to customer account data, payments are primed to play a key role as banks start to take action and regulators begin to weigh in.