OANDA API Opens Real-Time FX Tech To Third-Party Apps

Foreign exchange solutions company OANDA is enhancing its application programming interface (API) that opens up its foreign exchange (FX) technology to third-party apps.

The company announced news on Thursday (March 8) that its Exchange Rates API has been updated to include real-time FX rates. According to OANDA, the API supports updates to FX rates every five seconds, enabling third-party developers to integrate this solution into their own mobile apps.

Further, the API enables third-party developers to integrate 96 fixing rates provided every 15 minutes, including bid, ask and midpoint rates.

The solution is designed for treasury and FinTech applications, OANDA noted, and aims to enhance those apps’ ability to enhance cash flow, reduce FX risk exposure and increase FX visibility to end users.

“As an over-the-counter market, there is no central exchange for currency pricing, which can make it difficult to gauge accurate FX rates,” explained OANDA President and Chief Executive Officer Vatsa Narasimha in a statement. “However, because OANDA has been collecting FX data for more than 20 years, we are uniquely positioned to combine this knowledge with access to a full range of interbank liquidity, proprietary trading technology and pricing algorithms in order to create an accurate market consensus across a wide range of FX instruments, including real-time foreign exchange rates.”

“Trusted for accuracy and reliability, our rates are acknowledged by several tax authorities and governmental agencies around the world and are widely considered to be the gold standard in exchange rate data,” Narasimha added.

Last year, OANDA announced a partnership with Western Union Business Solutions to offer the OANDA Money Transfer solution, which supports cross-border money transfers in more than 130 currencies.

FX volatility can have significant negative impacts on corporate cash flow, especially for SMBs. Research released by Bibby Financial Services earlier this year found two-thirds of small businesses in the U.K. note they have been adversely affected by FX volatility in the last year, with currency fluctuations now the top concern for global small and medium-sized businesses.