BNP Paribas’ securities services business has extended the use of Application Programming Interface (APIs) through a new programme applying the technology to overcome connectivity challenges.
The custodian said as part of its recent developments it has completed its API catalogue, granting a significantly extended coverage around areas such as net asset valuation, settlement status and CSDR penalties.
Other areas include cash accounting information, corporate actions and transfer agency.
BNP Paribas has been building APIs leveraging Google Apigee in order to attain a degree of standardisation and facilitate adoption. The asset servicer explained that standardisation also ensures greater consistency in the sharing and use of data and reduces the scope for misinterpretation.
In addition to these APIs, BNP Paribas’ securities services unit has developed a new webhook feature, which is currently in production for the NAV API, and to be further implemented into other APIs.
Through the feature, clients are notified as soon as new data is available for consumption, allowing them to pull data through the API at the right time, pushing a step closer to real-time access to data.
“There is much efficiency to be gained by our clients, by us as provider, and, I think, by the market at large really, through the further adoption of APIs,” said Jean-Marc Friess, chief digital services officer for securities services at BNP Paribas.
“Using an API coupled with webhook capabilities, we’ve seen NAVs coming through significantly faster than via traditional channels. There are some cases where APIs are the uncontested channel of choice to attain maximum efficiency.”