Metro Bank has launched its developer portal, which opens up the bank’s platform to FCA-registered third parties wishing to build services on top of its APIs.

Built in collaboration with Google’s Apigee team using Apigee’s Edge API management platform, the self-service portal allows access to the bank’s PSD2 API documentation and sandbox, providing a frictionless way to integrate with the bank.

Developers will also be able to access the API documentation and test out simple API queries that return sample data.

The bank has launched its Account Information Service (AIS) and plans to unveil further APIs, including a Payment Initiation Service (PIS), in the near future.

Metro Bank’s PSD2 API is closely aligned to the Open Banking Implementation Entity’s (OBIE) standards.

Craig Donaldson, CEO at Metro Bank, said: “PSD2 has the power to shake up UK banking and inject more competition and choice into the market. By working with market-leading Apigee API management, our developer portal will provide third parties with the building blocks they need to develop even more products and services to help make customers’ lives easier.

“I’m excited to see how APIs are leveraged; I genuinely think it will be transformational.”

Denis Dorval, Google’s head of apigee for EMEA, added: “We see the changing preferences for how consumers want to interact with their banks as an opportunity for the banking industry to reach a whole new generation of customer and build a long-lasting, dynamic relationship with them.

“It’s exciting to see a leading and innovative bank such as Metro Bank embrace a new approach that can provide ease of use and ultimately deliver the same seamless connected customer experience that they currently have in other parts of their daily lives.”