Digital Rails: How Providers Can Unlock Innovation in DFS Ecosystems Through Open APIs

Low-income customers around the world have unmet financial needs extending well beyond payments. They save for school fees, need loans to bridge cash shortfalls, use social network borrowing schemes, and require financing for durable goods like solar power systems. Large digital payments providers are not always best placed to deliver a full range of solutions to meet these diverse needs. By opening up their payments platforms to third parties—such as financial technology companies, software developers, startups, and digital banks—providers can open the door to the development of innovative products that can be brought to market quickly. 

This document explains the concept of “Open APIs” (application programming interfaces) in digital finance services (DFS),  and explores the opportunities open APIs present to opening up digital payment platforms, enabling innovation, and expanding digital financial services ecosystems.