API Financial Services for Platforms Building Payments & Open Banking

One Infrastructure Layer for Payments and Bank Data

Platforms embedding api financial services don’t need another vendor comparison. They need reliable infrastructure handling both payment initiation and account data access without separate integrations.

Legacy approaches create slow deployments, broken connections, and reconciliation overhead. Teams spend months connecting payment rails, bank data providers, and compliance layers separately.

Key Takeaways

What operational risk does fragmented infrastructure create? Multiple vendor integrations increase failure points and reconciliation complexity at scale.

Why does infrastructure reliability matter more than interface design? Consent flows break silently. Data feeds stop updating. Payment confirmations delay.

What breaks when platforms choose cheaper API financial services providers? Limited bank coverage causes user drop-off. Batch-only feeds prevent real-time features. Screen-scraping breaks during bank updates.

What should UK platforms prioritise when evaluating providers? Bank coverage percentage, webhook availability, AIS+PIS in single integration, realistic onboarding timelines.

Where does Finexer fit operationally? FCA-authorised Open Banking connectivity enabling both payments api and account data access through unified infrastructure.

Where Teams Get Stuck

Chasing bank statements manually. Users download PDFs. Support verifies authenticity manually. Onboarding takes days.

Broken data connections. Screen-scraping breaks when banks update login flows. Platforms discover failures from user complaints.

Multiple vendor management. One for data. Another for payments. Third for compliance. Integration complexity multiplies.

Extended onboarding. Direct bank integrations take 6-12 months per institution.

Limited bank coverage. Supporting only major banks excludes challenger bank users.

What Platforms Need from API Financial Services

When product teams search for api financial services, they’re evaluating specific capabilities:

Bank account data access via AIS. Payment initiation via PIS. Consent-based authorisation maintaining product experience. Structured transaction data across 99% of UK banks. Ongoing data access via webhooks. White-label integration maintaining brand continuity.

Understanding Open Banking API integration requirements helps technical teams see the infrastructure architecture needed for production-ready implementations.

What Strong Infrastructure Provides

• AIS + PIS in single integration: Both account data and payment initiation without managing separate vendors.
• White-label consent flows: Maintains brand continuity without redirecting users to provider-branded pages.
• Historical transaction data: Access up to 7 years depending on bank data retention.
• Real-time webhooks: Notifications for transactions, balance changes, payment status without polling.
• Pay by Bank + Request to Pay: Complete api payments capabilities with instant confirmation.
• Full-featured sandbox: Testing environment with realistic data for development.
• 99% UK bank coverage: Across high-street banks, challengers, and building societies.
• Usage-based pricing: No fixed minimums, volume commitments, or long-term contracts.

What We See in Practice

Teams start with CSV uploads or screen-scraping. Add separate payment providers. Then discover they need compliance infrastructure tying everything together.

The fragmentation creates operational problems. Finance teams reconcile across multiple dashboards. Engineering maintains separate integrations. Support troubleshoots failures across providers.

Eventually, platforms look for unified Open Banking infrastructure handling both payments api and data access.

Common Evaluation Mistakes

Where Finexer Fits

Finexer provides Open Banking connectivity using FCA-authorised infrastructure. We offer AIS + PIS through single integration. Platforms access Pay by Bank, Request to Pay, and account data without managing separate providers.

99% UK bank coverage including Lloyds, Barclays, Monzo, and challengers. Platforms can verify which UK banks are supported before integration. Usage-based pricing without minimums. 3-5 week onboarding assistance from the engineering team. White-label consent maintaining brand. Real-time webhooks for transaction updates.

Finexer does not provide tax calculation or accounting functionality. We provide verified bank connectivity that platforms integrate for financial features.

Example Use Cases

Accounting: Transaction reconciliation via bank feeds. Payment collection via Pay by Bank.

Legal: Source-of-funds verification. Client account validation for settlements.

EPOS: Pay by Bank at point of sale. No card fees.

Lending: Income verification. Automated affordability checks.

Where This Works – Where It Doesn’t

Works for: UK-first products, SaaS platforms adding finance features, marketplaces, fintech building on Open Banking, B2B platforms.

Not ideal for: Consumer-only apps, one-off tools, platforms outside the UK, teams wanting pre-built software.

How to Evaluate Providers

Does the provider support 99% of UK banks including challengers? Real-time webhooks or daily batches? Both Pay by Bank and Request to Pay? 3-5 weeks with support or 6+ months solo? Usage-based or fixed contracts? AIS + PIS together or separate vendors?

Most financial services api providers optimise for demo speed. Few optimise for production reliability.

What I Feel About API Financial Services

API financial services are infrastructure decisions, not feature purchases. But evaluations treat them like SaaS subscriptions.

Platforms compare pricing spreadsheets. Then discover real differences during integration. Does consent feel native? Can you initiate api payments reliably? Does data reconcile consistently?

Operational differences appear at scale. A provider with higher per-transaction costs but reliable webhooks provides better economics than cheaper providers requiring manual reconciliation.

Evaluate based on operational fit, not marketing materials. You’re choosing infrastructure for years.