Overcoming the challenge of spending tens of hours every week navigating through different applications and sites, Standard Bank Group’s API Marketplace has made it such that customers can now come to one place with integrated and centralised access to APIs with one click.
Its new API marketplace reduces months spent in new API development down to a few clicks, with customers finding prebuilt APIs available for reuse. Whether the customer is an entrepreneur trying to enter the market or someone that has been struggling to connect with particular service providers, this new marketplace enables access to these connections through the bank’s global partnerships, including selected third parties.
Being a ‘one-stop shop’ platform for developers, Standard Bank has not only simplified their everyday tasks, but also made it available in all geographies it operates in – within and outside Africa – all while securing customer data and protecting their sensitive information.
Such an array of benefits has led Standard Bank to win the Outstanding API Initiative for Customer Experience award at the Digital CX Awards 2024, which was hosted by The Digital Banker in Singapore. Makhosi Modise, Group Head: API Marketplace and API Centre for Enablement, received the award on behalf of Standard Bank.
The API marketplace
It consists of a single platform serving two different purposes. The first is an external marketplace designed to commercialise the bank’s digital APIs throughout its African footprint, and the second is an internal central repository intended to guarantee cost savings and reusability for its internal APIs. Standard Bank says it observed an increase in customer interest for its external marketplace as a result of its ongoing efforts to optimise the automation, self-service and subscription processes.
To date, the marketplace has received over 200,000 views, over 750 unique registrations, and 50 subscriptions. One of the best features is its mocking service, which lets users test the API before deciding whether to use it. Users sign up knowing exactly what they will get out of the solution. While the solution was launched in 2022, most of the major improvements to it were delivered in 2023.
Standard Bank’s API marketplace is a platform that enables financial and other service providers, fintechs, retailers and other organisations to exchange or share data, receive services or otherwise cooperate, through selecting one or a combination of APIs on the platform, to serve customers better and more seamlessly.
Benefits for consumers include accelerated delivery of digital products, Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) enablement through improved discovery of APIs by consumers and adherence to standards, and generation of additional revenue.
An additional benefit for internal producers, along with the above, include automated governance, which ensures APIs are of high quality and pass governance right from the start.
About Standard Bank
Standard Bank Group is a commercial bank headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was founded in 1862 and is represented in 20 African countries with presence in international markets, offering transactional banking, saving, borrowing, lending, investment, insurance, risk management, wealth management, and advisory services.
Standard Bank Group’s corporate and investment banking segment offers services to governments, parastatals, larger corporates, financial institutions, and international counterparties. The Standard Bank of South Africa, Standard International Holdings, Stanbic IBTC, and Liberty Holdings are some of the group’s major subsidiaries.
