BBVA has launched its open banking platform in the US, using APIs to let firms offer their customers financial products.
It has become the first bank in the US to offer a full suite of Banking as a Service products with its BBVA Open Platform program moved out of beta. The initiative aims to enable third parties to easily integrate payments and complementary banking services into their own business models.
While PSD2 is driving open banking in Europe, BBVA is bringing a similar approach to the US. The Spanish bank has been operating its Open Platform in beta for six months, which works by allowing third parties, once they pass strict compliance and security checks, to access through APIs a range of services the bank can offer.
BBVA’s Banking as a Service solution allows companies to connect into a core digital banking platform, through which they can access APIs including the Move Money, Identity Verification, Account Origination, and Card Issuance services, among others.
BBVA Open Platform CEO, Abhishek Gupta, said: “The past six months in beta have allowed us to not only prove the market is there for this kind of innovation in the US, but also to ensure the BBVA Open Platform delivers a great experience to our customers.
“Turning this live has been a complex process, because ultimately this is a new service operating in a highly regulated and secure environment. But the potential it will deliver in terms of opening up new lines of business and supporting innovation that can really change the way people and businesses bank, is huge. It’s a real gamechanger.”
BBVA Open Platform is part of BBVA’s push to maximize the potential for open API platform banking more widely. The bank moved ahead of the PSD2 requirements last summer with the launch of the BBVA API Market in Spain, which has 11 banking APIs available for use. In Mexico BBVA has also rolled out a number of APIs, with more due on stream in the coming months.
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