Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has become the first Canadian bank to launch an Application Programming Interface (API) developer portal.

Once registered and approved to use the RBC Developers portal, external parties will be able to browse and learn about the APIs before building, testing and deploying applications using them.

RBC is initially offering five API packages in the portal – credit cards, minimum down payments, branch locators, amortisation scheduling and safety deposit box inventory. Each delivers the data elements, orchestration and business logic required for an end to end business process. Additional API packages will be added in the future.

“Across other industries we’ve seen the transformational effect of APIs,” said Sumit Oberai, RBC’s senior vice-president for digital technology. “By providing external developers, industry innovators and clients with access to select RBC APIs, we have the opportunity to increase connectivity, create new tools and experiences for clients, and enable open and innovative collaboration to improve the future of banking.”

APIs allow applications to talk to other applications. This communication layer allows third party applications secured access to select data and capabilities from the bank.

In August last year, RBC became the first bank in Canada to allow its personal banking clients to use Siri to pay their bills on their iPhone or iPad.

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