Glossary

Term	Description
Access	This describes the scope and capabilities a connection has. This may include multiple entities and accounts associated with several services.
Account	Also known as "currency account", it holds the balances as well as inbound and outbound transactions.
Alpha Connect	The name of our group of API and integration services are called Alpha Connect
API	The acronym for application programming interface — a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other.
API Credentials	The API key and secret used to identify, authenticate and authorise a user.
Authentication	A combination of technology and process that proves or verifies the identities of users who want access to an API.
Authorisation	The process of checking credentials against a set of services and accounts, to see if access can be permitted.
Balances	The balance is the amount of money available on a currency account. It is the difference between the sum of debit entries and the sum of credit entries entered into a currency account during a financial period.
Bank Account Number	A set of digits used to identify a bank account.
Connection	The connection is what the API credentials point to and holds all of the entities, currency accounts and permissions
Currencies	These refer to the system of money in general use in a particular country.
Currency Account	Also known as just "account", it holds the balances as well as inbound and outbound transactions.
Creditor	Also known as a payee; an entity receiving payments through any form of money transfer method. Also known as the beneficiary.
Date Range	A number of dates that includes a particular start and finish date and all dates in between.
Debtor	Also known as a payer; an entity either an individual or organisation, that makes a payment to another entity.
Deprecation	When an old version of the API is no longer available it becomes deprecated.
Entity	An entity is often equivalent to an organisation or company that is registered with Alpha. They may hold multiple currency accounts.
Filter	These are used to refine information by defining certain criteria that API properties must match
IBAN	The International Bank Account Number is an internationally agreed upon system of identifying bank accounts across national borders to facilitate the communication and processing of cross border transactions
ID	Abbreviation for identification: used to uniquely identify any entry returned in an API query
IP Whitelisting	IP whitelisting is when you grant network access only to specific IP addresses
ISO Currency Code	The ISO Currency Code is the three letters also used in exchange rates. Devised by the International Organisation for Standardisation it is a country’s two characters and a letter denoting the country’s currency. For example, in Hong Kong the currency is Dollars and so the ISO code is HKD.
Logging & Audit	Keeping a record of events that occur in via the API, such as events, errors or other information
National Bank Code	The domestic code that uniquely identifies a bank
Pagination	The process of dividing a response into pages (groups) in order to split large files into manageable pieces
Parameters	These are the variables that are defined in query. They determine the type of action you want to take on the resource.
Permissions	These define the scope of a connection and may have multiple entities and currency accounts associated with it. The currency accounts themselves may have different API services associated with them.
Policy	These are the standards and agreements that the API and client adhere to
Reporting API	The API service that provides data on the connection's transactions, balances, accounts and statements
Sandbox	The testing environment that is used to develop an application before connecting to the live version
Statements	Statements are formatted records that summarise the financial activities and position of a currency account.
SWIFT	SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. It provides a platform to transmit secure financial transaction information between the financial institutions it represents.
SWIFTBIC	Also known as a SWIFT code or BIC number. It identifies each unique business on the SWIFT network, enabling the exchange of financial messages.
Transactions	Transactions are records of monetary events on a currency account. They encompass both deposits (inflows of funds) and withdrawals (outflows of funds), as well as other activities such as transfers between accounts, payments made to third parties, fees or interest.
Query	An API call, or API request, is a message sent to Alpha's server asking an API to provide a service or information. The query within that call, explicitly defines what information is required.