Page 91 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Technology, innovation and competition

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Technology, Innovation and Competition

• SDK: Providing SDKs to third party partners who use the vendor platform to deal with DFS transactions.

Note: In some countries the same DFS system is used for multiple banks via open API or adapter.

7.1 Open API

The vendor platform should integrate and interact with the third party partners by a set of APIs to facilitate
DFS. Industry standardised – to ensure easier interaction with all parties in the eco-system in similar industries.

The vendor platform should provide two types of operations to the third party partners through API, transaction
operation, and business operation.

• Transaction operation could include cash in, cash out, buy goods, bill payment, domestic transfer, etc.
• Business operation indicates management of system features, which includes account management,
accounting, etc.

7.2 Adapter
The vendor platform provides adapters to the third party partners whose systems are stable or the interface
is already well-defined. Adapters are used to convert the protocols of the partner’s system into protocols of
the vendor platform, and vice versa.
The partner’s system sends service requests to the vendor platform. After receiving service requests, the
adapter parses the requests and matches elements in the requests with supported service elements in the
vendor platform. After the requests are processed, the related processing results are returned through relevant
responses.

The vendor platform generates transaction requests based on internal rules and sends service requests to the
partner. After being converted into messages that the third party partners can identify through the adapter,
transaction requests are sent to the third party partners.

7.3 SDK

An SDK provided by the vendor platform ensures the customer of the third party partners to pay with their
e-Money account. The SDK is open to the third party partners (e.g. applications on Android or IOS platform),
and should support platform services like purchasing goods, domestic remittance, bill payment, and so on. The
SDK is integrated in application of the third party partners, and SDK is used to connect with the vendor platform.

8 Conclusion and recommendations

DFS platforms could leverage the features and functions from multiple vender platforms and could include
multiple access options on the side of customers in different countries and for different electronic devices

(e.g. computers, laptops, feature mobile phones, and smart mobile phones), the interaction with the third
parties (e.g. banks, mobile operators, and interoperability) and the popular and normal service functions and
system functions.

By identifying the common and general functions of the platform, regulators can focus their efforts on the
services already adopted, give clear guidance for security and data controls, and also prepare for new services
that may be deployed as the eco-system matures.

Promote the common and general features of vendor platform: This technical report cannot cover all of
the features and functions for all vendor platforms. Only the common and general features and functions are

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