Challenges with Current API Tooling in Banks

Traditional banks still rely on core systems built 30-40 years ago, not designed for today’s API connectivity. Unsurprisingly, 69% of financial industry survey respondents identified legacy system integration as their top concern when modernizing platforms like payment hubs .

The rapid proliferation of APIs across different teams and departments (often with minimal coordination) leads to API sprawl. Organizations end up with hundreds of APIs, but with poor discoverability and inconsistent design standards (The challenges and opportunities of API governance⎪Escape). Each team might use its own conventions, resulting in duplicative or overlapping APIs and even shadow APIs (endpoints that exist without proper documentation or governance).

Most banks lack a unified platform for the API lifecycle. Instead, they use a patchwork of disparate tools for API design, documentation, testing, security, deployment, and monitoring.

Such fragmented toolchains increase complexity and operational overhead – developers must hop between systems, and manual hand-offs abound (What are the Limitations of OpenAPI? | OpenAPI Specification). The lack of an integrated APIOps pipeline means enforcing uniform security policies or compliance checks is harder, and teams spend extra effort integrating tools rather than focusing on product innovation. This fragmentation drives up maintenance costs and slows down the delivery of new APIs.