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🚀 BBVA’s API Channel: Powering Embedded Finance and a Financial Future ✨

Hey tech enthusiasts! 👋 Ever wondered how seamlessly you can order food, book a ride, or check your bank balance without even thinking about the underlying technology? The magic behind these effortless experiences often lies in APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Today, we’re diving deep into how BBVA, a global financial institution, is leveraging APIs to revolutionize financial services through embedded finance.

Let’s explore how BBVA’s API Channel is not just building APIs, but enabling strategic partnerships and shaping the future of finance.

🌐 Introducing BBVA and the Rise of Embedded Finance

BBVA, headquartered in Spain, operates in over 25 countries and serves over 80 million customers. They’re deeply committed to innovation and digital transformation, and a key part of that strategy is embedded finance.

What is embedded finance? It’s the integration of financial products and services directly into third-party platforms. Think of it as banking capabilities seamlessly woven into the apps and tools you use every day – no need to visit a bank branch!

To make this possible, BBVA exposes APIs to external partners. This is where BBVA’s API Channel comes in.

🛠️ The API Channel: Platform & Architecture Powerhouse

BBVA’s API Channel is a dual force:

  • A Platform: Providing the technical foundation for BBVA’s internal teams to securely publish and consume APIs. It’s the bridge connecting the bank’s internal services to the outside world.
  • An Architectural Team: Responsible for designing and operating the global architecture that supports this API exposure.

Tech Stack Highlights:

  • Layer 7 Suite: Including API Gateway and API Portal.
  • Kubernetes Environment: For orchestration and scalability.
  • Microservices: Developed internally for flexibility and agility.

Their Mission? To make it easy and safe for BBVA teams to publish APIs and for partners to consume them, accelerating time to market, enforcing security standards, and ensuring governance and reliability.

🤖 Real-World Use Cases: Transforming Industries

Let’s move beyond the theory and see how these APIs are making a real-world impact:

  • Corporate Treasurers: Imagine managing dozens of accounts across multiple banks, manually reconciling balances. Now, with BBVA’s treasury APIs, they can access real-time account balances, initiate payments, and gain cash flow visibility – a huge efficiency boost!
  • Mobility & Transportation: Ride-booking companies can use APIs for real-time reconciliation, enabling thousands of drivers to deposit daily earnings at ATMs and automatically match transactions. This enhances safety, reduces manual work, and increases operational efficiency.
  • Cash Delivery: In Spain, customers can even request cash delivery directly to their homes, extending financial access to remote areas.
  • Real-Time Account Validation: Companies can verify beneficiaries before executing payments, drastically reducing errors.
  • Agricultural Sector: Farmers can collect invoice payments within 24 hours and digitize their operations, eliminating the need to visit banks.
  • PSD2 Compliance: Fintechs can use APIs like the Funds Confirmation API to ensure users have sufficient funds before booking, ensuring compliance and a smooth user experience.

📈 The Numbers Speak for Themselves

The impact of open banking and APIs is undeniable. According to a recent interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, open banking is expected to reach €300 billion in transactions within the next three years, with over 580 million API calls by 2027!

🛡️ Security, Governance, and Flexibility

BBVA’s API Channel relies on Layer 7 to enforce security standards like OAuth 2.0, ensuring enterprise-grade governance. But it’s not just about security; it’s about flexibility. The architecture allows for customizations and easy integration with microservices, simplifying API publishing for developers.

Key Benefits:

  • Secure onboarding
  • Global policy reuse
  • Fast time to market
  • Full traceability
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Water policies

🏆 Recognized for Excellence

BBVA’s commitment to API excellence has been recognized by the Global Financial Forum, awarding them the title of Best Banking APIs in 2024!

🧩 More Than Just APIs: Enabling a Larger Ecosystem

BBVA’s API Channel is just one piece of a larger ecosystem. They aren’t the product or business teams; they’re the bridge that enables BBVA teams to expose APIs, partners to embed them, and ultimately, to standardize, secure, and scale.

When you initiate a payment in a third-party app, confirm funds in real-time, or reconcile a treasury report automatically, BBVA’s API Channel is working behind the scenes to make it possible.

Special thanks to:

  • Castro (Architecture Principal Manager)
  • Mor (Architecture Senior Expert)
  • The entire API Channel team!

At BBVA, they don’t just expose APIs; they expose possibilities. 🚀✨

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