Revolut announced Thursday (May 17) the full release of its Open API for business customers, which it started testing roughly a month ago.
In a blog post, Revolut said the response from the business community has been “nothing short of amazing,” and that the community is already using the API to make payments easier, saving time and removing frustration. According to the company, the API allows different platforms to communicate with one another so they can provide better services to customers.
“In plain English, APIs allow you to do things like ask Alexa to play your favorite song on Spotify, or allow you to log into the platform using your Facebook account,” wrote the payments company. “Banks, however, tend to stay away from APIs, preferring closed systems to open ones, in order to keep customers dependent on their services – sneaky, right?
“Here at Revolut, we believe your money should follow you wherever you go on the web, allowing you to pay and get paid quickly and securely, however and whenever you want to – knowing that you’re always in control of your finances and not the other way around,” the company continued. “So, our Open API allows Revolut for Business users to automate their banking operations by acting as an interface through which external systems (such as your accounting software, for example) can talk directly to Revolut systems – so that you can focus on running the business and not on boring admin tasks.”
Revolut also said that the API can be used to automate systems. For example, it could be set up so that the customer receives an update every time a transaction comes into the account, or it could be used to send payment to 5,000 contractors at the end of the day – all without needing to log into an online banking platform or upload a spreadsheet.
“Whether you want to automate mass payouts, connect your accounting software or receive a notification whenever a payment is made, our API has your back,” wrote Revolut. “The beauty of it all, is that it’s completely up to you to decide which tasks you want to automate. And even if you’re not sure where to start, we can pretty much guarantee there will always be ways to increase efficiency in your business, no matter the nature of your payment operations.”