Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Secret API of Banks

gduverger.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 257 posts

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#41

Post by cesarb »

TuringNYC wrote: post #32
TomMarius wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What user facing aspects bug you the most?

I'd love: - Universal, near-instantaneous per transaction alerts. It helps stop fraud right away rather than after-the-fact. It also helps solve problems while they are fresh rather than trying to resolve a month-old+ issue. Some countries overseas do this almost universally. - On-restaurant-table credit card swipe rather than taking the card away and entering tip later. Many places overseas do this almost universall…

> On-restaurant-table credit card swipe rather than taking the card away and entering tip later. Many places overseas do this almost universally.

If they took the card away, how would you enter the card's PIN? That's why places outside the USA do the swipe on the table.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#42

Post by Rjevski »

dewey wrote: post #8

For those in the EU there's something interesting coming next year, banks need to provide open API to interact with each other: https://thenextweb.com/worldofbanking/2018/06/27/openbanking... Already right now in Germany there are a lot of banks that share a common API format which is why there are a lot of banking apps where you can just log into your bank and don't need bank specific apps. It's called HBCI / FinTS…

PSD2 and “open” banking is bullshit. I wish this myth would die - it is anything but “open”.

If you want to gain access to APIs, you need to become an “AISP” (as they are called in the UK), this requires a certification and a load of other nonsense akin to PCI-DSS. This is for read-only access - for “write” access including the ability to edit payees or make payments you need to become a “PISP” which I assume requires even more paperwork.

I also said APIs because the regulation does not mandate any kind of API format, so every bank has their own with different capabilities as far as what data is returned and in which format. Some of them are truly awful.

And finally, “open” banking still does not allow you to get a personal access token for your own account.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#43

Post by driverdan »

WilliamEdward wrote: post #36
VikingCoder wrote: post #20

I hate sounding like a VC jerk, but the banking industry needs some serious disruption.

I had a similar idea, so I looked up the process for starting a bank. There's a good reason fresh-faced startup VCs can't get into it. - Extremely high starting capital requirements (10-100 million USD) - Knowledge on security, finance, and law, means you will be needing an expert team of lawyers, accountants, cryptographers, etc. - An actual location and strictly controlled building to keep the physical money. There…

This is why most financial services companies partner with an existing bank.

A better alternative to starting a new bank is buying a small bank. It may actually be cheaper than starting a new one.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#44

Post by branchless »

benbristow wrote: post #31

In the UK the fintech (Financial Tech) scene is becoming more prevalent, for the better. Recently I switched to a new online-only bank called Monzo. It's fully licensed and all accounts are insured up to a certain amount by the UK government. It's great. They're in the top charts for apps in the UK now on the iOS App Store. There's a few other alternatives like Starling Bank and Revolut too. They're very good. They'r…

Do they resell my data?

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#45

Post by driverdan »

win_ini wrote: post #12
nbap wrote: post #6

Yeah, I've been doing this for a couple of months now. I just happen to use a combination of Gmail filters, IFTTT actions to post to a webhook of a custom app hosted for free at Heroku to parse and send to Google Spreadsheets. It's been serving me well, definitely better than my bank's app.

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I heard you right. Did you say you can build a custom app but still use IFTTT? Here's a link to http://Zapier.com

I downvoted you because you seem to be implying that programmers shouldn't use IFTTT. There's nothing wrong with IFTTT if it meets your needs.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#46

Post by JoshTriplett »

spookthesunset wrote: post #40
JoshTriplett wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - On-restaurant-table credit card swipe rather than taking the card away and entering tip later. Many places overseas do this almost universally. This isn't a problem you can solve by changing the banking industry. This is a point-of-sale problem.

> This isn't a problem you can solve by changing the banking industry. This is a point-of-sale problem. It's all part of a larger set of "problems with US financial services". The fact that it is technically different vendors is not relevant...

It is if you want to solve the problem across the board, rather than having a niche system that a small handful of vendors use that just introduces one more surprising variation at payment time.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#47

Post by driverdan »

Splendor wrote: post #9

I'm not sure I'd feel better about having every single transaction in email. That doesn't seem any more secure to me.

So long as the bank's email server connects directly to your email server over an encrypted connection it's just as secure as anything else.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#48

Post by maxxxxx »

pgeorgi wrote: post #28
VikingCoder wrote: post #20

I hate sounding like a VC jerk, but the banking industry needs some serious disruption.

The american banking industry, maybe. One of the ills of VC-mania is the ongoing assumption that a) problems that exist in the US exist everywhere and b) that there are no other problems. (see also: Uber busting the "taxi monopoly")

And that nobody outside the US ever has solved problems in a way that may apply to the US.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#49

Post by TuringNYC »

cesarb wrote: post #41
TuringNYC wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love: - Universal, near-instantaneous per transaction alerts. It helps stop fraud right away rather than after-the-fact. It also helps solve problems while they are fresh rather than trying to resolve a month-old+ issue. Some countries overseas do this almost universally. - On-restaurant-table credit card swipe rather than taking the card away and entering tip later. Many places overseas do this almost universall…

> On-restaurant-table credit card swipe rather than taking the card away and entering tip later. Many places overseas do this almost universally. If they took the card away, how would you enter the card's PIN? That's why places outside the USA do the swipe on the table.

In the US, almost universally, they take the card away. Swipe it somewhere in the back -- without a PIN. Then bring back a receipt for an inked signature, which is supposed to the be the alternative to a PIN.

Oh, and you put the tip in on that receipt, and they go back and do a second entry of the tip (sometimes incorrectly, almost always higher when incorrect.)

Worse - the transaction alert -- if you get one -- is the pre-tip amount. Makes no sense.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#50

Post by tachang »

spookthesunset wrote: post #39
TomMarius wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What user facing aspects bug you the most?

- Instant, ultra-low cost inner-bank transfers. None of this "wait a day (or more)" ACH business or "send money via paypal, but then have to wait a day (or more) to ACH it into a real bank account". Useful for everything from paying friends back to moving money between two personal accounts. - ubiquitous NFC-based payment systems

Banks do this so they can gain the interest on the delay. Very annoying though for the end usrr
Post reply on HN