DNB and Danske Bank have invested EUR5.2 million in Nordic API Gateway, a data sharing utility launched by account aggregation and budgeting app Spiir.
Founded in 2011, more than 200,000 Danes today use from Spiir to manage their budget, monitor their spending and find less expensive alternatives for their fixed expenses.
For the account aggregation element, Spiir has set up its own Nordic API Gateway ahead of the incoming PSD2 Directive as a data sharing utility for banks in advance of the development of individual bank API platforms.
Dasnke Bank has topped up its initial investment of EUR3.3 million in Spiir made in May with a further EUR1.3 million, and made room for DNB, as the three parties bid to position Nordic API Gateway as an industry infrastructure for PSD2.
With a year to go before PSD rules on data sharing come into force, Nordic API Gateway is already providing a simple unified API access to both personal and business accounts from all Nordic banks. The company says it will soon include a smart way to initiate payments directly from account to account for clients from across a wide array of industries such as retailers, international banks, ERP providers, and fintech startups.
Lars Malmberg, global head of commercial excellence in Danske Bank says: "We are very pleased that DNB has chosen to become a part of Spiir and the Nordic API Gateway. Building infrastructure requires collaboration, muscles and a large network. It’s clear that we need other financial players to develop a strong common platform for PSD2 in the Nordics and we believe that our investment will benefit both our customers and innovation in the financial sector in general.”