
First Open Banking API Sandbox in the UK - ichaib
http://ukopenbanking.com
======
sjtgraham
If you're in the UK and want a banking API (including payments and transfers),
I'm building [http://teller.io/](http://teller.io/). It's been in private beta
about 2.5 months and access will be opening more broadly soon. I couldn't wait
for banks to get themselves into gear so I reverse engineered all of their
mobile apps, took their private APIs and expose a single unified API through
Teller.

Here is a video of me cURL-ing my bank account yesterday:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwWccFD0wv8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwWccFD0wv8)

Here is a CLI one of my beta testers @sebinsua/@nouswaves made for his bank
account: [https://github.com/sebinsua/teller-
cli](https://github.com/sebinsua/teller-cli)

So far the RBS banks, e.g. Natwest are in prod. If you bank with them, want
super early access, understand it's beta product and will give some feedback:
sg <> @ <> teller.io

~~~
insomniacity
Do we have to give you the full login details?

I'm somewhat impressed though - I was defeated by certificate pinning on one
UK bank's mobile app. How did you get round that?

~~~
icebraining
There's a BlackHat presentation on this: [https://media.blackhat.com/bh-
us-12/Turbo/Diquet/BH_US_12_Di...](https://media.blackhat.com/bh-
us-12/Turbo/Diquet/BH_US_12_Diqut_Osborne_Mobile_Certificate_Pinning_Slides.pdf)

------
aembleton
_Finally loaded_. Here is the blurb from their website:

UK Open Banking

A demo of Open Banking APIs in the UK

In February 2016, a group of experts from the banking, FinTech, security and
open data communities published a framework to deliver an open standard for
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for UK banks. This work, led by HM
Treasury, aims to increase competition and innovation in and around banking to
improve outcomes for customers and thus further support the UK’s world-leading
FinTech industry.

The European Union is rapidly advancing legislation (PSD2) that will, upon
implementation in the next two years, require banks in the EU to open their
payment and transaction systems to certified third parties. This is a good
moment for the UK to take a leadership role and influence the EU and beyond.

We took this opportunity to reveal the first Open Banking API sandbox
specificaly targeted at supporting discussion around the UK Open Banking
standard. The sandbox we are showing today provides a selection of API calls
relevant to the UK Open Banking Standards report. Feel free to explore the
calls. We believe our technology gives the UK a tremendous headstart and
access to a vibrant Fintech developer community.

Click below and enjoy!

~~~
aembleton
Twitter:
[https://twitter.com/OpenBankProject](https://twitter.com/OpenBankProject)

Github: [https://github.com/OpenBankProject/OBP-
API/](https://github.com/OpenBankProject/OBP-API/)

API Documentation: [https://github.com/OpenBankProject/OBP-
API/wiki](https://github.com/OpenBankProject/OBP-API/wiki)

API Explorer: [https://uk-apiexplorer.openbankproject.com](https://uk-
apiexplorer.openbankproject.com)

------
joefarish
If you are interested in this, take a look at Mondo:
[https://getmondo.co.uk/docs/](https://getmondo.co.uk/docs/)

Some news coverage here:

[http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jun/29/digital-
banking...](http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jun/29/digital-banking-
mondo-hopes-to-become-the-google-or-facebook-of-the-sector)

[http://www.thememo.com/2015/06/25/meet-mondo-the-app-
thats-g...](http://www.thememo.com/2015/06/25/meet-mondo-the-app-thats-got-
the-banks-worried/)

[http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/24/mondo/](http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/24/mondo/)

[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-18/mondo-s-
ce...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-18/mondo-s-ceo-wants-to-
build-a-bank-for-people-who-hate-banks)

------
krstck
I've been dreaming of a standardized banking API for as long as I've been
using online banking. It crushes my soul every time Mint makes me send them my
actual log in credentials just to scrape transaction data. Really hope this
catches on, but I think too many orgs have a vested interest in being the
gate-keepers of your banking data.

~~~
joering2
Mint has always pulled my data automatically from BOA, Chase and Wellfargo.
Which banks are you using??

~~~
krstck
Mint is logging in on your behalf, unless you have a different service than I
do.

~~~
sredfern2
Yep, the OBP approach is to use OAuth (currently 1.0a) so the App doesn't have
to see the credentials.

------
shmapf
"...require banks in the EU to open their payment and transaction systems to
certified third parties" Does anyone know if this will mean that average Joe
can't just write a script to access his account, because he isn't a "certified
third party"?

------
thesehands
see also teller.io for the UK, Stevie gave a great talk on the same issue at a
hackernews london meet up last year.

------
sredfern2
Folks, Sorry about the initial slowness we had to tweak apache configuration
in front of jetty. Here is the url again:
[https://uk.openbankproject.com/](https://uk.openbankproject.com/)

------
neximo4
This doesn't look HM Treasury-ey is this by some other organisation?

~~~
ichaib
Let by us at the Open Bank Project (www.openbankproject.com)

~~~
neximo4
How does this work. Will banks be using the same API structure in general, or
is it more sort of an advice type of thing.

Also what type of operations are intended to be supported (read/write?)

~~~
sredfern2
The report sets out a framework rather than a specification at this point. It
talks about a phased approach starting with open data (e.g. branches,
products) then transaction history and then write (e.g. payment) options. PSD2
from the EU might well influence the operations supported first.

------
aembleton
I just gave them my email address and was taken through to Mailchimp, where
their address is given as being in Berlin! Strange that this is supposed to be
led by HM Treasury.

~~~
beejiu
I think the language is slightly confusing on their website. It appears they
took part in a HM Treasury led consultation, along with 38 other
organisations.
[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...](https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/413766/PU1793_Open_data_response.pdf)
(page 13)

------
jimmcslim
I'd like to think the banking industry in Australia might follow this lead,
but I'm not hopeful.

------
tonylemesmer
seems to be struggling with load. Anyone else?

~~~
aembleton
Not working for me either. I haven't read it all yet but I think this article
is related: [http://www.theguardian.com/media-
network/2016/feb/16/banking...](http://www.theguardian.com/media-
network/2016/feb/16/banking-industry-uber-moment-standard-open-banking-
working-group)

~~~
cmdkeen
[https://github.com/OpenBankProject/OBP-
API](https://github.com/OpenBankProject/OBP-API) seems to be related to them.

The snazzy writeup suggests loads of people are involved but the project has a
pretty low number of contributors. Is this the whole organisation or a subset
of people doing some work relating to the concept.

The idea of a common API is really fantastic mind you.

~~~
sredfern2
Hi Folks, Simon here from the Open Bank Project. We're based in Berlin but
were involved from the early stages in the report published by the UK
Treasury. We put up the sandbox to get feedback on the APIs etc. Guess we have
some high load on one of our servers at the moment! Feel free to ask any
questions. (AMA??)

~~~
underscorer
While I wait for the pages to load... Any fintechs (or other) actually
planning on implementing this API? What is the relationship like with the
industry? (Is there feedback being implemented in the API?)

More information would help. There seems to be interest around the world to
change/modernize the financial industry for consumers. Thanks for taking
questions.

