GT Software, a mainframe modernization software company, has introduced Open Banking SmartBridge, a new offering to provide banks and financial institutions with a way to connect their legacy IT systems to third-party apps and services as the U.S. moves closer to open banking adoption.
According to GT, 90% of the world’s financial transactions are processed on mainframes every day, but the technology needs to become better at
"talking" to external applications and systems. When connecting the old with the new, the company says, traditional banks often hit a major roadblock due to the legacy technology on which their apps and processes are built.
The Open Banking SmartBridge is intended to bring speed, flexibility, and compatibility to the mainframe by providing the following:
- Allowing users without mainframe experience to build and maintain complex integrations through a drag and drop platform
- Reducing the labor required to create APIs by up to 90 percent
- With a single API, connecting legacy applications to multiple external systems, including anti-money laundering, fraud detection services and other third party banking standards
The SmartBridge connects core systems with open banking standards and APIs, allowing banks to integrate fintechs and their legacy systems using industry-standard APIs without typical developer resources or timeframes. For inbound calls, third parties have instant mainframe access to look up balances or verify account information and initiate transactions directly from legacy apps. SmartBridge also allows for real-time outbound calls from COBOL and PL/I applications to KYC, AML and fraud-detection systems without writing any code.
The Open Banking SmartBridge works in real-time to:
- Allow legacy banking systems the power to initiate calls or call out to FinTechs and third parties
- Use drag and drop workflows to match API granularity with developers’ needs
- Create APIs using industry-accepted specifications and standards, including OpenAPI document ingestion
- Add or replace fraud detection layers and other external calls without touching legacy code
- Protect valuable consumer data with mainframe security integration
- Shield developers from the constant updates needed to meet evolving standards
- Deploy the API runtime on a mainframe or cloud containers like Red Hat Open Shift to ensure elastic scaleability
- Enable cross-functional dev teams through low code application platform
More information is available from GT Software at www.gtsoftware.com.