Japanese banks are looking at digital payments due to a recent regulatory change which may bring in more competition; the law will be introduced in phases which makes it easier for depositors to give third parties access to both their accounts and data; it is part of a government push to reduce high cash use in the country; Projects around QR codes, blockchain and digital currencies are currently in the works. Source
A new bill has been introduced in Congress that would mandate the IRS to make their data available via API; the current process for lenders requires borrowers to fill out a form known as IRS 4506-T: Request for Transcript of Tax Return; Lend Academy provides additional information on the bill with thoughts from Congressman McHenry and Nat Hoopes, Executive Director of the Marketplace Lending Association. Source
Citi announced the launch of a new global API Developer Portal (developer.citi.com) to connect with developers and enable them to build innovative client solutions; the open architecture will help facilitate collaboration and partnerships with fintech companies and consumer brands worldwide; Citi will grant developers access to APIs across six usage categories: account management, peer to peer payments, money transfer to institutions, Citi rewards, investment purchases and account authorization; Citi plans to add more categories over time and developers are encouraged to register with Citi to use this portal. Source
A few weeks ago, Lending Club investors received an email notifying them that Lending Club would be introducing a new...
In a surprise announcement yesterday Lending Club sent notice that it has decided to make some changes to the data...
There is no standard for data sharing between banks and fintechs which often results in screen scraping; this leads to concerns around data security and is also an inefficient way to gather data; the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center released an updated version of their recommendations around data sharing called the Durable Data API specification; this could eventually become the standard adopted by the industry; American Banker compares this to PSD2 in the UK and shares more about the new specification. Source
Most lenders like to request tax return information from a borrower during the loan application process. It is the most...
Today, the University of Michigan's "Next Billion" initiative writes about Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation research into financial inclusion and fintech; part of the research addresses payment aggregators that use APIs to connect buyers, commercial enterprises and other clearinghouses; the research claims that creating truly open APIs, which don't require complex legal agreements or technical integrations between parties, would be of great benefit to the financial ecosystem, including enhanced innovation and reduced transaction costs; a case study about Selcom, an African payment aggregator, highlights six areas suitable for near-term open API development: payment initiation (including via mobile wallets and online chatbots), check payment status, retrieving account history, easily cancelling a payment and a set of user interface foundation code that can be white-labelled by any customer-facing innovator. Source
The marketplace lending ecosystem continues to develop. Yesterday, LendingRobot announced a significant funding round that will allow it to “improve...
Early this month Prosper said goodbye to its old API. It was announced back in March that this transition was...
