What are our Open Banking APIs?
Open Banking is a regulation within the UK that allows regulated third party providers to connect with your bank(s)/finanical institutions and securely share your financial information.
For more information, visit What is Open Banking?
What are our Open Banking solutions?
At the moment, we offer APIs that conform to Open Banking standards:
- Account and Transation API
- Payment Initiation API
We may introduce new APIs in future in line with Open Banking specifications.
Where can you test the Open Banking solution?
We offer a sandbox environment that you can use to test our APIs. To gain access to the sandbox we recommend you also be registered with the Open Banking Directory and have access to add a sandbox SSA (Software Statement Assertion).
You can easily switch between our sandbox and production environments in the top right corner, or in the mobile navigation menu.
Is there test data available?
We do not currently offer test data via our developer portal, however Open Banking offer testing capabilities via model banks (Ozone and ForgeRock).
For more information, see: How can I test the Read/Write banking APIs?
How do you implement the Open Banking APIs?
In order to implement our APIs, we recommend you first register as a regulated TPP (Third-Party Provider) with the Open Banking Directory.
Once registered, you will be able to navigate through our developer portal, register an application with us, and receive a Client ID and Secret which you can use to obtain access token(s) to connect to our API(s).
To assist your development process, our API documentation includes code samples for a variety of common development languages, as well as data model examples.
How do you register an application?
Access to certain areas of our Developer Hub are restricted. To gain access to these areas we recommend you first be enrolled with Open Banking as a TPP, and log in to our Developer Hub via Open Banking's authentication service.
Once authenticated and we have verified that you are enrolled as either a AISP or PISP with Open Banking, you will be able to navigate to our Applications page.
All application information must be registered as a 'Software Statement' within Open Banking's directory. Please see this guide for more information.
Once you have created your software statement(s) with Open Banking, you should generate a Software Statement Assertion (SSA) and take note of the Software ID generated for you.
How do you enrol with Open Banking?
The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) provides a Developer Zone for Third Party Providers (TPP). Within the Developer Zone, you can find the necessary Open Banking API specifications that you should use when building your applications.
As a TPP, we recommend you enroll with Open Banking before gaining access to our Developer Hub where you will then be able to register applications with us.
See: Enrolling onto the Open Banking Directory
What is the customer experience?
Our TPP Customer Experience Guide addresses the “Customer Journey”, that is, the process that the customer follows from within a TPP’s online app or browser, through to authentication within the ASPSP domain, and completion in the TPP domain.
Can you register an application without enrolling in Open Banking?
Applications can be registered with us directly if you have an eIDAS QWAC certificate issued by a valid QTSP CA and is authorised by a European NCA in an AISP (Account Information Services Provider) or PISP (Payment Initiation Services Provider) role.
Registration can be done using our eIDAS Compatible Dynamic Client Registration API:
https://open-banking.alphafx.tech/oauth2/connect/eidas/register
You will need to send your eIDAS QWAC PEM file in the request headers, along with your organisation details and JWKS URI. Please note that registration will fail if you already on-boarded with Open Banking directory.