My bank has a REST API
I haven’t yet posted about the new Wesabe API, but I’m very excited about it.
Aside from enabling 3rd-party developers to build apps that can help users manage their financial data and get on top of their financial lives (think of a SaaS version of Quicken mashed with all manner of GTD apps), there’s a major shift going on here. Banks and credit agencies are no longer the (only) owners of all the data about us - now we own it too, and have the right to pool it with other users’ data to do interesting things with aggregated data from the community.
MyBlogLog flipped a similar switch by giving users benefits from analytics that have historically been publisher only - now you can’t see my history, and I can’t see yours, but when we’re in the same place, we can see each other’s tracks if we both expose them; I can see what other people are doing at my favorite websites, etc.
Wesabe’s API enables similar opportunities for patrons of the same merchant to connect, and for patterns to be extracted in a way that creates value for all sides. I look forward to seeing what comes of it.
