What is open banking?

Open banking lets third-party applications access a user's bank account data — with their consent — via a structured API or automated data pipeline. In South Africa, formal open banking regulation is still developing, but real-world implementations already exist.

How does it work in South Africa today?

South African banks do not currently offer official developer APIs. Providers like BankLink bridge this gap by using authorised credential-based access to retrieve transaction data on behalf of account holders, then delivering it in a structured format.

{
  "account_number": "62012345678",
  "transactions": [
    { "date": "2026-06-01", "description": "WOOLWORTHS FOOD", "amount": -342.50 },
    { "date": "2026-06-02", "description": "SALARY ACME CORP", "amount": 45000.00 }
  ]
}

Who uses open banking?

  • Lenders — verify income and assess affordability without asking for payslips
  • Accountants — ingest client transactions directly into their software
  • Payroll providers — confirm salary credits automatically
  • AI agents — monitor accounts and trigger actions based on transaction patterns

What can you build with BankLink?

BankLink provides a Pulse — a scheduled job that pulls transactions from a linked account and delivers them to a webhook, email, or dashboard. You can set one up in under five minutes.