Designing payment APIs, for those in a hurry

The team at 37signals are notorious for their catalog of ideas (what they call, signals), of which one in particular is pretty interesting (and almost polarizing) when it comes to API design: context > consistency For the purpose of this blog, REST over HTTP(S) is considered as the core transport mechanism, with JSON as a format.

 

It has been over twelve years since ISO20022 formally went live in banks in Europe in the avatar of SEPA, so I thought it makes sense for us to compile a list of pointers/gotchas when it comes to designing APIs for payments and payments orchestration, accumulated with over a decade of creative thinking and production failures, but above all, learning. o quote 37signals: “Following a formula can be comforting, but when it comes to design, we think designing around the current context is better than designing to satisfy prior consistency.” Payment APIs, like payment products, need to be thought through for several scenarios over and above the movement of money – for instance, beneficiary registration, human scrutiny, fraud checks, etc.

In the world of finance, as standards and interoperability become more important (ISO20022, anyone?) Designing payment APIs for basic stuff such as transactions and payouts is both an art and a skill. The question is, how do we get our API design right, in terms of the data schema? for more details … Read more

 

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