SWIFT has published a paper “Be part of our open API revolution” – see - that outlines the potential for Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to transform international finance, and details how SWIFT is leveraging APIs as part of its strategy to enable instant transactions anywhere in the world.

 Application Programming Interface usage

APIs are the firepower behind many of today's most popular online products and services, connecting and exchanging data between applications and web servers. SWIFT has been a leader in unlocking the potential of APIs for years having launched their first API in 2017. Since then, adoption and usage of the SWIFT API channel has grown significantly with more than two billion API calls made over SWIFT in 2020 – a 120% increase year-on-year.

Overcoming a key industry challenge: fragmented APIs

SWIFT write: “While APIs have significant potential to transform financial services, challenges remain. Not least the need to overcome the fragmented implementation of APIs that has proliferated in recent years in our industry. When anyone can develop and publish their own API specifications and update them whenever they wish, fragmentation becomes inevitable, limiting their reach to a narrow groups of users.”

Inevitably they propose a standardised API approach run by SWIFT. Juan Martinez, Global Head of APIs, Identity and Platform Partners at SWIFT, says “Our goal is to become a collaborative platform where innovative new ideas can thrive, and to help new products and services reach and benefit as many customers as possible.”

Source & Copyright©2021 – SWIFT

SWIFT’s play

The report shows that SWIFT plans to continue to harness the power of APIs to facilitate instant, on-demand information and transaction services across its network as it becomes an open, two-sided platform. SWIFT also plans to enable its community of over 11,000 institutions to connect to the enhanced platform through its own API channel, while also providing members access to innovative services available through community-developed APIs and even third-party APIs.

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CTMfile take: This is serious play – as we show in our article – for the future of global trade. The report is well worth a read.