Imagine sending a payment from Miami to Rio de Janeiro in 1985.
In this frantic scenario, you would be compelled to negotiate divergent exchange rates, compliance regulations, and time zones—all while appeasing a host of global intermediaries with intensely varied operating protocols.
Oh, and you would have little more than a primitive landline and IBM computer to help.
While it’s stressful to even imagine this scenario, the world has mercifully evolved since 1985. Thanks to APIs, cross-border payments are faster and more convenient than ever.
At UniTeller, we champion the integration of APIs around the world.
In fact, our proprietary B2B payments solution—a global payment gateway with a single API—empowers businesses to process payments to over 50 countries.
However, while API standards are foundational to our firm, we understand that they remain a mystery to much of the world.
In this brief article, we’re going to introduce what APIs are, explain how they function, and explore how APIs have revolutionized the payments industry.
Let’s get started.
What is a Cross-Border Payment API?
The digital economy is utterly dependent upon APIs.
That’s true whether you’re a bank, an e-commerce clothier, or even a food delivery app. In the modern world, APIs facilitate practically every online transaction, of all types—B2B, B2C, or C2B.
But what are APIs, exactly?
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are digital bridges that enable the exchange of data between software programs.
In other words, APIs make it possible for computers and apps to talk with each other. More specifically, when it comes to businesses, APIs make it easy to send and collect payments.
That’s why cross-border payment APIs are so indispensable: they seamlessly intermediate payment systems and their external liaisons—including financial institutions, currency converters, and messaging networks.
Nevertheless, while facilitating the global transfer of funds, API infrastructures remain invisible to end users. The technology is simply that good.
How Payment APIs Work
Payment APIs are like “master keys” that unlock the doors of international business payments.
Like the Rosetta Stone, APIs harmonize diverse languages, payment methods, exchange rates, time zones, and even compliance demands.
As a result, businesses can effortlessly send and collect payments in multiple currencies. More importantly, by leveraging API technology, they enjoy reliable (and profitable) B2B payments solutions.
Here’s the best part: business owners don’t need to develop their own APIs.
After all, APIs are add-ons built to integrate with your existing systems infrastructure.
All you need to do is partner with an online payments platform that delivers the white-label solutions you need. Once your partnership is in place, you’ll instantly access tools that translate the complex language of cross-border payments.
Though payment APIs come in many forms, they typically provide core services including:
- Payment reconciliation, to guarantee accurate financial accounting.
- Payment status, to offer real-time updates on amounts paid/date/method.
- Automated payouts, to define predetermined payment schedules.
- Compliance oversight, to ensure regulatory alignment with KYC and AML demands.
- Data protection, to defend against cyberattacks and fraud in the global marketplace.
As you can imagine, the benefits of payment APIs are manifold—and meaningful.
Benefits of APIs in Cross-Border Payments
Business owners need to know that their cash inflows and outflows are secure.
More specifically, they need true confidence that their company can consistently receive payment from customers and honor agreements with vendors.
While delivering on those foundational tenets, payment APIs also provide a spectrum of internal and external benefits. They:
- Enhance efficiency by automating all tasks, from initiation to processing, to payout.
- Provide real-time, fast payments, with zero manual effort.
- Improve accuracy and eliminate the potential risk of human error.
- Reduce the workload for all stakeholders’ accounting teams.
- Empower firms to initiate payments anytime, anywhere.
- Fortify security by encrypting and tokenizing data at every touchpoint.
- Fulfilling all regulatory and compliance obligations.
- Streamline cash flow by providing real-time visibility into all transactions.
Best of all, these benefits can be instantly unlocked—all it takes is integrating turnkey APIs with your existing business systems.
How APIs Are Disrupting the Payments Industry
Let’s return to 1985 (for just a minute, we promise).
If you’ll recall, we were trying to send funds from a business in Miami to a vendor in Rio de Janeiro. This intricate process is not for the faint of heart.
After all, it involves U.S. and Brazilian banks, the conversion of USD to the Brazilian Cruzeiro (now the Brazilian Real in 2023), the use of BIC/SWIFT codes, the institution of fees and taxes, the appeasement of international regulations, as well as the involvement of multiple clearing and settlement entities.
To complicate things even further, this cross-border payment is also vulnerable to potential theft and fraud, cannot be tracked in real-time, and could take weeks to arrive.
That’s how cross-border payments often occurred in 1985. With no guarantees or protections, businesses that engaged in the international market simply had to hope for the best.
Thankfully, those days are over, as payment APIs have disrupted the industry for the better. While international business payments remain subject to intermediaries, APIs have succeeded in consolidating these labyrinthine processes.
Today, cross-border payments are just a few clicks away.
Unsurprisingly, this seismic disruption has led to mass adoption of APIs across the financial sector. And while consumers enjoy the benefits, business owners stand to gain the most.
After all, APIs have opened the floodgates to cross-border payments, powering a surge in global commerce where any business can now be considered a global business.
What used to be expensive and time-consuming is now affordable, fast, and seamless. Modern innovations have leaped over legacy systems with API integrations too powerful to be ignored.
UniTeller: A Global Network, One API
Most APIs are plural. In other words, businesses looking to scale their operations must engage with multiple API providers to check all the boxes.
For example, they need transaction, tokenization, compliance, and reporting APIs—just to name a few.
UniTeller is different in every way. With UniTeller, you get access to a global payment network with a single API.
As a result, you’ll never need any other APIs to revolutionize your B2B payments solution.
UniTeller’s Business Payments also offers a white-label turnkey solution, where integration is both quick and comprehensive.
As APIs continue to disrupt the financial world, UniTeller remains the leading choice for emerging and scaling businesses.
Your seamless business payments solution is just one API integration away. To learn more, check out our Business Payments features page.
