The use of open application program interfaces is a practicalway for credit unions to supply members with faster, convenientaccess to funds, financial resources and payment vehicles,especially when combating nontraditional financial players.

“In providing the payments engine for credit unions, the openAPI really gives them the ability to control their destiny andprovide the consistent member experience across multiple devices,”Marcell King, chief revenue officer for the Rocky Hill, Conn.-baseddigital payment provider Payveris, said.

He added it allows financial institutions to accelerate theinnovation of new products and services related to payments.

King explained Payveris gives financial institutions the abilityto provide payment services through any device and application, whether itis in-house, like their digital banking service, or an externalapplication, like a business accounts payable tool or debtconsolidation tool.

In the past, experiences built specifically for the desktop didnot translate smoothly to mobile banking.

“The great thing about an API is that it can connect to a screenbuilt for the desktop or a mobile device, and also allows speed toinnovation because it doesn't confine you to a specific formfactor,” King added.

In addition, an open API provides flexibility across multipleareas within the institution and does not limit users to just oneuse case. For example, Payveris created an API for a pay by phototool, which integrates into its overall payments engine. Thisallows users to capture the details of a bill from their phone,store the payee information in the engine, and access thatinformation from a desktop or mobile device.

The $1.7 billion, Richland, Wash.-based GesaCredit Union implemented the Payveris platform three years agoas part of its omnichannel strategy to unify its money movementplatform.

“We were looking for a platform that had an integrated bill pay,A2A and P2P solution,” Gesa CIO/COO Raj Bandaru explained.

Gesa selected Payveris for its latest technology platform withopen API architecture.

“The goal was to consume the money movement widgets where itmade sense. We were also looking for a device agnostic technologyplatform at a reasonable price point,” Bandaru noted.

Read a full account of open APIs in the Aug. 24, 2016 printissue of Credit Union Times.