91–100 of 113 posts
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Are you sure you can't? Besides the paper statements, I can download my transaction data in a variety of formats including CSV from every bank I've use in the Netherlands.
The problem is that for a lot of banks there is no easy way to automate that process. I think 90 percent of use cases would be addressed simply by providing a way of giving automated read only access to statements.
Why would anyone ever want to let a 3rd party company manage their bank account? I barely trust my bank yo do that... I'm afraid that some companies will try to force it upon customers as well. Starting with: "If you allow us to manage your purchase it will get even faster (oh and we get access to all of your financial info), and you also get a useless gadget!"
Obviously, I didn't follow through with that, because that's a terrible sign of how Fidelity treats security and when it comes to entrusting large sums of money with an investment firm, I'd prefer one that's demonstrated a better security policy all around.
Anyway, this article was hilariously scant of technical details, but if the API they're creating allows different privileges to be associated with each API user, it's possible that I could use it to provide a company like Fidelty read-only access to only the information they need to verify that I am the account owner, and nothing more.
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Its a fair criticism in part; but you are a technologist and so want unfiltered access to play with that data. For the vast majority of people that's meaningless - so to be able to share that data with companies offering new and interesting services (AIS sign up is reasonably lightweight, certainly within trivial reach of any startup) is a big step forward. I think we should be encouraging! (Or in other words; your t…
> For the vast majority of people that's meaningless Erm ... WTF?! I'm not sure how explain this as it just seems so obvious, but ... you can, like, use software that other people write on your own computer!? There is no need to have any clue whatsoever of software development nor to share your data with any third party in order to profit from open APIs. People can use Thunderbird to read and write email without any…
Sounds like your issue boils down to whether this is done with SaaS vs local app
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?! No, my criticism is that it is an interface for third parties only that locks out the first party!?
How many people do you think will be able to secure their access? And what happens if their computer is hacked, the credentials stolen and the accounts emptied? It's not hard for me to imagine developers saying, "hey, we all know computers get hacked, it is the bank's job to know when its really me versus when someone stole my API keys. What a shitty bank. I'm expecting all my money back"
How is that any different with web interfaces? Or are you saying that people should just generally not be able to use their own computers for banking purposes?
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?! No, my criticism is that it is an interface for third parties only that locks out the first party!?
If you want to download your own data you can do so, to an extent, through the midata format which was launched in 2011. It lets you download the last 12 months transactions from your current accounts in a file. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-midata-vision-of-cons... https://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/midata-faqs https://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/midata
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> For the vast majority of people that's meaningless Erm ... WTF?! I'm not sure how explain this as it just seems so obvious, but ... you can, like, use software that other people write on your own computer!? There is no need to have any clue whatsoever of software development nor to share your data with any third party in order to profit from open APIs. People can use Thunderbird to read and write email without any…
> you can, like, use software that other people write on your own computer Sounds like your issue boils down to whether this is done with SaaS vs local app
Though, mind you that "local app" is not the only way to run software. I could also install software on my home server to, I dunno, send me XMPP messages for incoming transactions, dunno whether you would call that a "local app"?
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> you can, like, use software that other people write on your own computer Sounds like your issue boils down to whether this is done with SaaS vs local app
Sort of? So? Though, mind you that "local app" is not the only way to run software. I could also install software on my home server to, I dunno, send me XMPP messages for incoming transactions, dunno whether you would call that a "local app"?
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Sort of? So? Though, mind you that "local app" is not the only way to run software. I could also install software on my home server to, I dunno, send me XMPP messages for incoming transactions, dunno whether you would call that a "local app"?
The objection to software you manage is the same as the objection to software you write - that you won't have the checks, balances, and liabilities of registered suppliers and this would create uninsurable risk that the banking ecosystem can't be expected to bear.
Wow, the UK is really embracing technology. You can do so much electronically though the Gov.uk website already, and you can even access your NHS medical record via a phone app. Being able to consume banking data via an API will no doubt open up a suite of more useful apps, that can help with managing budgets and planning for the future etc.