Vietnam Publishes Draft Circular On Open APIs In The Banking Industry

On July 23, 2024, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) published a draft circular regulating the implementation of open (publicly available) application programming interfaces, or Open APIs, in the banking industry (Draft Circular) to collect public comments. Open APIs in the banking sector are APIs of banks that allow third parties to process data for their own use or to provide products and services to customers.

Urgent need

Currently, the development of Open APIs in Vietnam is fragmented, with each bank using different API standards and security standards. There is no common standard for information technology systems, information storage, security, connectivity, or legal frameworks. Therefore, the promulgation of a regulation on Open APIs is urgently needed to create a clear legal basis and guidance for electronic banking transactions, especially in connecting to bank information systems and processing customer data safely, and creating new, innovative products