Swift and Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) have launched an API sandbox for FinTechs.
Its sandbox provides a secure testing environment that allows FinTechs and other payments providers to test the capabilities of the NPP. It is hosted in the cloud and protected with state-of-the-art security, enabling developers to start learning and testing the benefits and capabilities of the NPP via APIs.
The initial API Framework for the NPP has documented three sample APIs that NPP participants could make available to the wider FinTech and payments community in Australia. These are PayID Resolution Request , which is to determine the bank account related to a particular personal or business identifier such as a mobile phone number or email address.
The second is the Payment Initiation Request, which is to instruct the NPP participant to initiate a payment instruction through the NPP; and the third is the Payment Status Request, which is to check on the status of an NPP payment.
By mimicking these APIs in the NPP API sandbox, the idea is to allow external parties to build and test NPP-based solutions in an independent environment that will help to foster innovation and competition for NPP-based payment services.
Bill Doran, SWIFT Head of Oceania, said: “SWIFT has been at the forefront of innovative application of technology within the financial sector for many years, and this API sandbox is a welcome step forward as the industry embraces API technology. The API sandbox for NPP will enable fintechs and corporates to develop their NPP solutions in an independent and secure, zerofootprint environment – before taking their prototypes and customer propositions to the broader market. This should support competition in the financial community in Australia.”
Jointly developed by NPP Australia and SWIFT, the API Framework defines the key technical approach and is aligned to ISO 20022 standards.
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