Singapore’s OCBC Bank has released banking data such as foreign exchange rates and ATM locations in an open format to encourage third-party app developers to create suitable apps. This is the first time a bank in Singapore is releasing application programming interfaces (APIs) for the data it holds. OCBC’s APIs are available on its newly-launched developer portal Connect2OCBC. Branch locator and smart card adviser APIs are also available on the portal. The latter informs users the OCBC credit cards that provide discounts at restaurants, for instance. Praveen Raina, OCBC senior vice-president of group operations and technology, said the open APIs will put the bank data to more efficient use as it can be shared both internally across the bank and externally with third-party software developers. He added the bank hopes to spur innovation that would ultimately benefit consumers