Mike Baliman caught up with Stephane Dubois at FinovateEurope 2016, for a deep-dive into fintech APIs. APIs are not only the “building blocks of Fintech but also set to become even more important with forthcoming legislation around opening up banking data.”
The London Fintech Podcast Episode 45 traces Stephane’s journey from Brittany to Silicon Valley exploring the steps of a leader of a business revolution (#FintechRevolution, in this case). In this episode, you’ll also learn how Xignite came about, find out more about the history of APIs and see what fintech API buzz is all about.
Some, among many, topics discussed in the podcast are:
- “The technical foundation for APIs was laid down in the late 90s”
- The evolution of the web as having been layers of technology building upon prior layers of technology
- What is, in essence, an API? The meal analogy. APIs as services.
- “APIs are everywhere” – all data going to mobile phones is via APIs, the internet of things is all about APIs
- Xignite’s new API development – market data alerts API
- Does the cloud “exist”? The cloud as a utility
- The vital role of the cloud in scalability; “When we say the cloud we generally mean the public cloud; and when we say the public cloud we generally mean Amazon as they are 10x bigger than everybody else combined.”
- “To go from 500bn to 1trn we just turn a few knobs.” “The more we buy the cheaper it gets.”
- Sourcing the data from non-cloud sources and putting it into the cloud
- The story of API supermarkets and why they didn’t catch on.
- $25bn p.a. is spent globally on market data.
- “The cloud is now safer than what the banks can do.”
- “The cloud is more reliable than what the banks can do.”
Listen to the London Fintech Podcast Episode 45
