Hong Kong's regulator moved to urge its banks to open up to industry rivals and peers. The financial center is responding to regional rivals including Singapore, which is already coaxing its financial actors into the digital age.
Open application programming interfaces or, or APIs, are the rules governing how one piece of computer software communicates with another. By adopting an open API approach, banks can work with third party providers to radically change the way their financial services are offered to customers.
The Hong Kong central bank launched an industry consultation on opening up APIs, released on its website. The move follows similar reforms in the region from Australia, Japan and Singapore.
Last year Australia's Macquarie Bank launched its own open banking platform, giving approved third party providers access to its API via the bank's open developer portal and test sandbox, called devXchange. Singapore's DBS followed suit with an even more ambitious API project it claims is the largest by a financial institution.
