The development of commercial banks is unbalanced, so there are different models to build open banks. In the third chapter, we put forward four possible open bank construction modes: self-construction, investment, cooperation and alliance. Looking at these four development models, there are two important factors: risk tolerance and industry influence. For example, commercial banks with high risk tolerance and strong industry influence can adopt self-built mode, while commercial banks with low risk tolerance and weak industry influence can adopt alliance mode.
These four models can basically include the development of all commercial banks, and some banks are based on these models in practice.
The concept of open bank originated in Britain, but in practice, European and American countries have been at the forefront. On the whole, the application practice of open banks in European and American countries can be divided into two categories: one is that banks with high risk tolerance and great industry influence independently build open banking platforms, such as Citibank and BBVA Bank; The other is that small and medium-sized banks with certain risk tolerance cooperate with third parties to integrate into the financial technology circle with the help of external forces, such as Solaris Bank in Germany and Yodlee in the United States, to improve their technological innovation ability and efficiency.
(1) Citibank
Citibank, a retail bank under Citigroup, was established in June 18 12 and its headquarters is in new york, USA. Formerly known as new york City Bank. Citigroup has customers all over the world and has provided services to about 200 million customers in more than 0/00 countries around the world. The service groups are mainly individuals, institutions, enterprises and government departments. In terms of services, Citigroup provides customers with a wide range of financial products and services, from consumer banking services and credit, corporate and investment banking services, as well as brokerage, insurance and asset management, which are unmatched by any other financial institution.
The U.S. government has not formulated specific regulatory provisions for open banks, but basically issued guiding opinions to promote the development of open banks in the United States. As a "century-old bank" in the United States, Citibank has witnessed the ups and downs of too many banks. Now it is facing the transformation and development of banks. Citibank actively carries out the practice of bank opening and is at the forefront of the industry. Its construction mode can be summarized as "self-built, supplemented by cooperation": self-built API developer center as the core, supplemented by cooperation with external financial technology companies.
Today, Citibank has provided open banking services in 65,438+06 countries or regions such as the United States, Mexico, Britain, Poland, Russia, Australia, China, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan Province Province of China, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
1. Citibank API Developer Center-1 1 API
20 16 1 1, Citibank launched the API developer hub all over the world, which is an important practice for Citibank to open its banks. In this practice, Citibank mainly launched 1 1 API products: providing account information, ATM network locator, authorization, bank card, customer information, insurance, fund transfer, user guidance, integral payment and services.
1) account information
The account information API product allows developers to retrieve the account information and transaction information of Citi customers who have been authorized for the corresponding application.
2) ATM branch locator
The ATM Branch Locator API product allows developers to obtain the location of ATMs and branches in a specific country or region.
3) Authorization
Authorized API products can verify Citi customer accounts and authorize third-party applications to access account data.
4) Bank card
Bank card API products enable Citi customers to manage credit and debit cards.
5) Customer information
Customer information API products allow developers to retrieve and obtain Citi customer profile data, such as basic information such as name, phone number, address and email address.
6) Insurance
Insurance API products allow insurance platforms to obtain Citibank customer accounts that meet the insurance reservation conditions.
7) Transfer of funds
Fund transfer API products help Citi customers transfer funds between different accounts and institutions.
8) User Guide
User-oriented API products allow developers or third parties to start the basic account opening process for new customers.
9) integral payment
The point payment API product enables the application to accept the purchase fees paid by Citi customers with Citi reward points, thus enabling Citi customers to pay with Citi points on third-party platforms.
10) service
Service API products allow Citibank customers to browse Citibank bills and modify ATM passwords on third-party platforms.
1 1) utility
Practical API products allow developers or third-party applications to retrieve field properties, validation arrays, and so on. Some specific regional markets, thus simplifying the development of multinational multi-market applications and identifying differences.
These API products have been provided in 16 countries and regions, in which account information, customer information and integral payment can be accessed in this 16 country, and the access rights of other seven categories of API products are different in different regions.
2. Developer Center-Five operating steps
External partners and developers who want to call Citibank's API products need to go through the relevant steps of the developer center first. Citibank's developer center consists of a sandbox that provides simulation test data sheets. This sandbox provides developers with the same business environment as the actual situation, in which developers can simulate API calls. Before putting into production, under the premise of protecting customer data, put the public API into the sandbox to verify the product.
The operation process of Citibank Developer Center mainly includes five steps: registration, obtaining customer ID and key, authorization, sandbox testing and further exploration after production.
1) registration
Developers need to register on the developer center website with their own email before building API; After submitting the registration information, Citigroup will send an invitation receipt link to the registrant, click on the link within the specified time, and complete the registration according to the process in the link. After activation, you can log in to the account according to the process.
2) get the customer ID and key.
Developers can register the application in the API key workspace and obtain the customer ID and customer key after completing the application. Customer ID is the public identifier of the application, which is used to confirm the identity of the customer when requesting information; The client key is the private identifier of the application and is used as the identity of the client in the authentication step of the API.
3) Authorization
Before testing API, customers need to pass API certification. There are two kinds of verification: if the developer only wants to call Citi points or submit a product application, he does not need Citi to provide identity information or financial history (such as redeeming reward points or submitting a product application), but he needs bipedal verification; If the developer wants to obtain sensitive data of some customers (such as checking the balance or viewing personal information). ), they need to verify the customer.
4) Sandbox test
The developer chooses the API interface he wants to call and starts testing in the sandbox. First of all, format according to the process shown in the API document of Citibank's account opening center. Then, use the developer's access token and the information required by the API. Finally, build an application using API sandbox data.
5) Further exploration after production.
After the test, the developer can submit the developed products to Citibank. If both the developer and Citigroup think they can cooperate, they will jointly test after the investigation by Citigroup. When both sides think that there is a large space for cooperation, they can further cooperate and put it into practical operation.
External developers can call the API of Citibank through the above five steps, so as to obtain massive customer data. The operation of these five processes is very clear. With its openness and convenience, the developer center attracted 1500 developers a month later. For example, Intuit and Qantas Airways are co-developers of Citi's API products, and they cooperate with Citi to develop services based on open API.
Cai Jie is a high-tech company focusing on personal financial software. After Cai Jie calls Citibank's account management API, its users can more smoothly and safely authorize Cai Jie to obtain its account data in Citibank, including balance, transaction history, bill due date, etc. You can also view these data anytime and anywhere by using infographics.
Qantas is the largest airline in Australia. After cooperating with Citibank, more than 70 APIs can be called through the developer center to obtain relevant financial data. Based on these data, Qantas launched advanced platinum credit card service and Qantas currency application. Its users can not only get the rewards and benefits of Qantas membership program more conveniently, but also monitor the credit card balance and flight mileage points in real time.
3. Integration and collaboration
As an international bank in Bainan, Citibank has always shown a positive embrace of financial technology. For the construction of open banks, Citigroup is actively strengthening external cooperation in addition to its own exploration.
1) Citi Venture Capital
In 20 17, Citibank held the Hong Kong Financial Technology Challenge (Citi HK Fintech Challenge 2065438+07) and established the venture capital fund "Citi Venture Capital". In the past five years, we have cooperated with 23 financial technology companies in eight fields, including blockchain, data analysis, personal finance, wealth management, financial service software, payment and settlement, regulatory technology and loans. It also includes well-known financial technology companies such as R3, DAH, Kensho, Better, Grid and Chain. For this reason, Citigroup was rated as the first of the largest banks in the United States 10 in terms of classified investment in financial technology.
2) Fintergate
The cooperation between Citigroup and financial technology companies has created the new word "Fintergate", namely Fintech and integrate, which means the integration with financial high technology. Today, Citigroup has successively established cooperative relations with MasterCard, Wonder, Best Buy, Virgin Wealth Management and PayPal.
On 20 16, Citigroup cooperated with wonder to open the Citi points API for it. When users pay with Citibank Credit Card on Wonder App, they can use points instead of cash. In 20 17, Citigroup cooperated with online payment company PayPal. Users of Citigroup and PayPal use PayPal to make payments on PCs, mobile phones and physical stores.
3) Citi Mobile Challenge
Citibank has begun to explore the outside world. In 20 14, Citibank launched the "Citibank Mobile Challenge" global hacker and accelerator project to gain a wider range of external financial concepts. The project has trained thousands of developers from more than 65,438+000 countries in Latin America, the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
Israel, synonymous with this startup, has become the partner of Citigroup. In 2065438+2003 10, 165438, Citigroup launched its first financial accelerator project in the country. The four-month project is unique in that Citigroup will not invest in the enterprises that accept the project, because the project aims to provide autonomy for the enterprises participating in the accelerator project, so that the financial technology startups in the project can use the professional tutor resources provided by Citigroup and help them obtain about $350 million in start-up funds. In order to further expand innovative resources, in 20 15, Citigroup reached a cooperation with Plug and Play, the world's largest incubator.
As an international bank with high risk tolerance and great industry influence, Citigroup is the representative of big banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Captial One. It provides an excellent answer for big banks to establish an open bank. The mode of "self-construction first, cooperation second" provides us with a lot of practical experience.
Author | Zhang Ruiting Zhang Yingkai
Instructor | Sun Yunchuan