APIs, or application programming interfaces, started out as a mechanism to let computers talk to other computers, but somewhere along the way, they've evolved into an ecosystem all their own. For virtually any development need, there is likely an API ready and waiting to deliver. Like the Lincoln Logs or Lego bricks of old, APIs are building blocks for creating applications.
The future of banking is not in a single, clean leap. It's showing up in fragments: APIs on top of legacy systems, automation paired with human judgment, digital tools balanced by hand-holding for companies new to the digitization journey. Emerging from these fragments aren't just new tools or products, but a slow rebuild of banking's operating system. My recent stories on Amex, Citizens, and BNY highlight different layers of this rebuild.
While banks announce AI deployments and digital transformations, the real platform shift is happening through something more mundane: solving customer servicing headaches one API call at a time. Banks have a servicing problem masquerading as a platform opportunity. You won't read the evidence in their press releases, but you can see it in how they're actually solving operational friction for business customers who want banking to work well.
With generative AI, developers can create APIs in a matter of minutes - but this rapid acceleration often bypasses critical safeguards. We're seeing a surge of auto-generated APIs lacking proper documentation, deviating from organizational standards and overlooking long-term maintainability and security.
API requests undergo increasing complexity as more functionality is added to apps, requiring careful management of client-side updates to ensure consistent interaction with server-side implementations.
The React View Transition API simplifies the addition of animations during page transitions, streamlining the process for developers by automatically managing DOM interactions.
Many believe that Electronic Data Interchange solutions are outdated, soon to be replaced by APIs. But the numbers tell a different story- EDI usage continues to grow, proving its value in structured, error-free data exchange.
