Why Open APIs Matter: Tech Partnerships Power Development

If you’re one of the millions of people who use their mobile to send money or pay a bill, you probably don’t spend much time thinking about how your phone connects to the mobile network, and then to a financial service provider, and then to the recipient of your cash. But as software developers, this ‘pipeline’ for transmitting data is crucial: If information doesn’t flow smoothly through it from Point A to Point B, mobile users on multiple continents lose out on the chance to access basic financial services. That’s why we’re so excited about the opportunities created by something called an “open API”. It has the potential to give developers across the globe a chance to share their mobile financial service ideas – and connect to this pipeline – quickly, cost-effectively, and on a massive scale. Read more in this paper from CGAP.