What problem does this attempt to solve? Their slack example doesn't seem particularly pressing.
Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
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Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#12How is this different from Monzo?
Looks like it's a more complete API, with methods to change/approve/reject transactions as they happen, rather than more of a record API.
For instance, with the reference to a "programmable card". I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds like a feature Monzo doesn't have.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#13I'd like to have something like this for Germany. I am willing to pay 10€/month for a simple API access to my bank account. I need neither hosted code nor push. Just give me remote access for my scripts. Probably I'm asking for the impossible because of the heavy regulation in Germany but just wanted to put it out there.
Have you thought about using a headless browser or web scraping?
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#14What problem does this attempt to solve? Their slack example doesn't seem particularly pressing.
It might be useful for businesses that wish to API control over their money.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#15I'd like to have something like this for Germany. I am willing to pay 10€/month for a simple API access to my bank account. I need neither hosted code nor push. Just give me remote access for my scripts. Probably I'm asking for the impossible because of the heavy regulation in Germany but just wanted to put it out there.
You can simulate a browser and act as if you're a normal, browser using customer. Encapsulate it and you've got an "API"; though it'll be a bit painful as a lot of banks' web backends are fucked up and you'll need to keep up to date with their changes, but still. I did it for my French bank account at one point (get balance + submit transfer).
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#16I'd like to have something like this for Germany. I am willing to pay 10€/month for a simple API access to my bank account. I need neither hosted code nor push. Just give me remote access for my scripts. Probably I'm asking for the impossible because of the heavy regulation in Germany but just wanted to put it out there.
N26 has got a quite decent REST API if you are willing to use your dev tools for a bit :)
Edit: Most banks also seem to support FinTS [0], but it seems a bit of a PITA.
Edit 2: figo might be worth a try as well, though I don't know their pricing.
Edit 3: bunq is quite nice as well. I implemented a few basic calls in node when they launched the API. Not the easiest API to work with, but acceptable.
[0]: https://www.hbci-zka.de/index.htm
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#17I wonder if they'll get a C & D over 'Erlich Bachman' .
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#18In the EU this is soon going to be solved by the PSD2 system. Coming in November 2018 or later, depending on how soon the regulations are finalized.
It's a mandatory-to-implement protocol, which will allow consumers to give 1st and 3rd parties API access to their bank accounts.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#19What problem does this attempt to solve? Their slack example doesn't seem particularly pressing.
Hey @tarr11, founder here. We're trying to make banking more accessible to creators/developers so that they can build their own problem solving solutions :)
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#20I'd like to have something like this for Germany. I am willing to pay 10€/month for a simple API access to my bank account. I need neither hosted code nor push. Just give me remote access for my scripts. Probably I'm asking for the impossible because of the heavy regulation in Germany but just wanted to put it out there.
I doubt it's even regulation, just inertia.
There used to be (still is?) an API called HBCI, but to my knowlegdge that required a smartcard (maybe not to bad an idea) and was mostly read-only. I think in the early 2000s you could use things like Quicken and MS Money to do homebanking (is this why some people in Germany still have the impression that it is dangerous and complicated?)
I think what "Sofortüberweisung.com" initially did was just to scrape the websites of all major banks, and use the HTML as an API. Then the banks found out they could not do much against it legally (and also fearing backlash because they had no good website-payment solution themselves), and they made some agreements.