Salesforce GM: Channeling APIs For Personalized Financial Services

Financial services players, both big and small, are embracing APIs in a major way — as they should.

From solutions designed to increase the use of new technologies like the blockchain, to those aimed at giving consumers a more personalized set of products and services, APIs are being used to unlock all kinds of new capabilities. And now, around the industry, banks, financial managers and other players are seemingly embracing the age of APIs.

In the April B2B API Tracker, PYMNTS takes a look at the latest B2B API news from around the financial services world, including newly debuted blockchain-based API solutions from financial institutions within the space.

Around the B2B API World

Increasingly, financial players are betting on APIs to spur adoption of other technologies, including the blockchain.

Mobius, for one, believes that simplifying blockchain tech using APIs can boost adoption. In a recent interview with PYMNTS, David Gobaud, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said he and his team are working to boost adoption of the blockchain by making it “easy” for companies to apply it to their own work, namely through the creation of an API and promotion of an app powered by it.

Meanwhile, two payment giants are also planning to expand their use: American Express and Mastercard each recently made moves to further embrace blockchain APIs.

Amex filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office outlining the use of blockchain technology and APIs to accelerate payment between two different companies. Meanwhile, Mastercard recently said it would look to increase the usage of API offerings going forward.

Find more headlines from around the B2B API space inside the Tracker’s News and Trends section.

Financial Services Turn to APIs to Get Personal

Players in the financial space are also hoping to use APIs to offer more personalized services — something that has become essential in this age.

In a recent interview for this month’s B2B API Tracker feature story, PYMNTS caught up with Rohit Mahna, senior vice president and general manager of financial services at Salesforce, to discuss why APIs are becoming table stakes in the financial services industry, and how they are reshaping the space.

Mahna told PYMNTS that as competition from FinTech challengers and new regulations is pushing larger financial players toward using APIs, it’s also prompting them to make their legacy data more actionable and useful.

“Sometimes it’s about competition, sometimes it’s a regulation thing, but we’re really seeing more and more companies [that] truly want to rethink their business processes and models to better incorporate and take real advantage of APIs,” Mahna said. “Every chief digital officer at every bank right now is thinking about APIs, or they should be, because they are realizing that APIs can take even legacy data and make it actionable to the people on the front lines.”

To read the full story, download the latest issue of the B2B API Tracker.

About the Tracker

The B2B API Tracker. serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends, along with a provider directory highlighting the key players contributing across the segments that comprise the B2B API ecosystem.