Unionbank of the Philippines (UnionBank) recently unveiled its new Application Programming Interface Developer Portal (developer.unionbankph.com) that boasts of an enhanced user interface and a more extensive API catalogue.
The portal, launched during the Tech Up Expo hosted by the bank last April 26 and 27, now has 56 API endpoints that comprise functionalities beyond banking services. Fintechs and other partners can have their API services published in the said portal.
With this, UnionBank and its partners can collaborate and cultivate concepts that will not only help the bank achieve its transformation goals, but also allow ingenious ideas to gain immediate traction.
“The advantage of the API portal would be to bring small and medium enterprises and our customers in the online space. So, if they have easy access to relevant APIs, they can now create their own business and presence in the internet,” said UnionBank senior executive vice president and chief technology and operations officer Henry Aguda.
Since the launch of its API platform, there has been over 10,000,000 API transactions and this figure is seen to grow further by yearend.
Partnership with Fintechs and solution providers is one of the core strategies of UnionBank in its digital transformation. The other two are the digitization of the bank and the launching of a digital bank through the EON brand.
Advocating Open Banking, UnionBank first launched its developer portal in March 2017. The portal exposed APIs for core banking services and allowed any external entity to easily sign up on it, choose from a catalogue the services it needs, and integrate it to their platform.
Regardless if it’s a startup, an established corporation or an independent developer, anyone can instantaneously enable and augment their product or solution with banking capabilities. The portal initially held 33 APIs which were exposed to several hackathons arranged by the bank to enable several inventive ideas to materialize.
Apart from an array of API options, the new portal exhibits an overhauled look comparable to an experience in searching videos on popular movie streaming websites. The improved portal also has a recommendation feature designed to display APIs relevant to the partner’s business profile. Furthermore, the APIs have been laid out in a tiled format for better viewing and selection.
According to Arvie de Vera, head of UnionBank’s Fintech Business Group, the new API developer portal clearly manifests the bank’s unrelenting pursuit for digital expansion through technology-driven experiments.
He said APIs will play an important role moving forward because its the best way to work with Fintechs and the bank’s partners.
“APIs are a must because that’s one gateway to the world,” he said.