SINGAPORE - DBS on Thursday (Nov 2) launched the world's largest banking API (application programming interface) developer platform, boasting of more than 50 successful collaborations to date.

The APIs allow other brands, corporates, fintechs and software developers to "talk" to the bank to access a breadth of services, including funds transfers and peer-to-peer payment service PayLah!. All in, DBS has launched 155 APIs for Singapore across more than 20 categories. More categories will be added in response to demand.

The collaborations already in place include that with McDonald's, which has introduced the payment option - PayLah!, to its delivery customer base this year.

David Gledhill, DBS's group chief information officer, said in a media statement: "DBS embarked on a journey to transform our tech infrastructure nine years ago. With that early start, we are now ahead of many others in being digital to the core. This has given us an edge - enabling us to operate with fintech-like ability and nimbleness, and also platform-like inclusiveness."

Customers can also get an instant affordability assessment when selecting a home through PropertyGuru. This gives customers real-time access to their home loan affordability, making their search process extremely effective, said Vivek Kumar, director, product (consumer) technology, PropertyGuru Group.

OCBC last year launched its API platform, with the number of APIs available at 43, said an OCBC spokeswoman. Since the launch, OCBC has received more than 150,000 APIs calls or requests across all its APIs. The bank was also the first in Singapore to launch a transactional API for GIRO set-up in September 2017.

APIs are sets of requirements - routines and protocols - issued by a business or institution that determine how one application communicates with another. For example, a Google Maps API lets app developers embed Google Maps in Web pages. With APIs, software developers can shave the time needed to build new apps, and update the information embedded.