While it is important to take a strategic approach to open APIs, you do not need a full-fledged strategy in place to get started. It is better to start small, offering a limited number of APIs to existing partners, learning about developers’ needs, and testing business models, before evolving toward a full open strategy. The resources below provide insights on how a financial services provider can develop an effective open API strategy, including approaches to pricing.

Developing an open API product starts with understanding the needs of the third-party developers who will eventually create their own products leveraging your data and capabilities. From there, it is important to adopt the right mindset, resources and processes to develop and iterate the product. The resources below highlight best practices, drawing on the experiences of other industries and early movers in the financial sectors of emerging markets.

One of the biggest mistakes that a financial services provider can make when they launch open APIs is to assume that developers will automatically start using them. To ensure developers are aware of your APIs and drive usage, providers need a go-to-market strategy. It is also important to create resources that make it easy for developers to see the potential applications of the APIs and to start using them. Such resources include an online developer portal and supporting documentation.