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Belarus
A bank’s positive experiences with APIs
Minsk-Arena in the city of Minsk, Belarus
In 2018, Priorbank became one of the first banks to offer its customers access to APIs.
APIs started to gain popularity as tools for accessing banking products and services in 2015, when the European Parliament issued the second version of its Payment Service Directive. Belarusian banks were not obliged to follow this directive,
but Priorbank decided to treat it as an additional opportunity for digital transformation. The bank first asked potential API consumers if they were interested in the topic and received more positive responses and recommendations than anticipated. As
a result, Priorbank realised that a simple solution that only met functional requirements would not be enough. They would have to implement a secure, reliable and user-friendly platform.
Most work went into ensuring the necessary level of information security. Providing adequate end-to-end information security while customers are interfacing with an API is perhaps the most important aspect of this process.
One of the first examples of Belarusian pilot projects was Priorbank’s practical experience with API. This came during its cooperation with the Swedish fintech Asteria, one of the winners of Raiffeisen Bank International’s Fintech Partnership Program Elevator Lab. The bank and the startup worked together to implement a solution for customers in which Asteria’s product was connected with the bank through an API. This offered customers predictive cash flow analytics based on their bank data. As expected, most difficulties were related to user authentication and authentication protocols — OAuth2 and OpenID Connect. Due to the complexity of these protocols, the bank continues to receive questions about them today.
Many banks in Belarus are sceptical towards using open APIs. However, Priorbank believes that APIs offer banks an easy, quick and seamless means of integrating into a dynamically developing digital ecosystem and expanding their business. “The situation of APIs in Belarus is not yet fully determined, but digital transformation is taking place in every field. There is a need to change if we are to be prepared for new realities and to stay in the game,” experts from Priorbank stated.
Country data
Population 2019 (M)
GDP total 2019 (€ Bn)
GDP per capita 2019 (€, at PPP)
GDP growth 2019 (% yoy)
GDP growth 2020 (% yoy)
Official currency
9.4
55.9
14,100
1.2
-4.5
BYR
Total bank assets 2019 (€ Bn) 33 Total bank assets (% of GDP) 59 Account ownership 2020 (% of population) 85 Debit card ownership 2020 (% of population) 75 Internet usage 2018/2019 (% of population) 79 Usage of internet to pay bills 2020 (% of population) 60 Sent/received digital payments 2020 (% of population) 85 Source: national sources, ECB, ITU, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH; estimates for 2020 penetration ratios
Source: IMF, ITU, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH, data for 2019 and estimates for GDP growth 2020