İşbank Launches API Portal, VTB Bank Rolls Out Mobile Banking

Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes how Turkey’s İşbank rolled out an application programming interface (API) portal. In addition, Armenia’s VTB Bank launched mobile banking services, and Armenia’s ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank has started to accept JCB cards across the country.

Armenia’s ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank has started to service JCB cards, the two companies said in an announcement. ACBA has 58 branches throughout Armenia, along with 1,400 POS-terminals and a developed network of automated teller machines (ATMs). JCB, meanwhile, has more than 110 million card members spread across 24 countries and regions, with 30 million merchants around the world accepting its cards.

“The partnership with a leading financial bank of Armenia is a remarkable step forward for JCB to raise its presence in the CIS market,” Takashi Suetsugu, the general director of JCB International (Eurasia), said in the announcement. “This is a significant moment for JCB card members around the world, especially for Russian JCB card members, as Armenia is one of the key business and tourist destinations for Russians.”

In other news, Armenia’s VTB Bank has upgraded its internet banking and rolled out mobile banking services through a platform called remote banking services (RBS), according to reports. With the platform, customers can manage their accounts, pay for services and transfer money. The platform is available in Armenian, English and Russian. In the six months since its release, only about 20,000 customers have signed up for the service.

Turkey’s İşbank has launched an API portal for FinTechs and third-party developers, the bank said in an announcement. Initially, the bank is offering 14 APIs, and it said that new APIs will come in the future, depending on the needs of developers and FinTechs. The idea behind the portal is to help developers and FinTechs make improvements to their existing applications, while creating new products via the APIs.