Xero, a cloud accounting software provider, is collaborating with BBVA API Market to give Xero users access to the bank’s BBVA Compass accounts through the latter’s Open APIs. The collaboration will provide small businesses, after their consent, with greater control, reliability and security over their financial data. For accountants it will make managing client reconciliations easier – freeing up time for more value-added services.
“BBVA API Market allows companies of any size and from numerous industries to easily integrate financial services directly into their product offerings. They can create new and innovative services that offer added value to their customers, monitor and analyze payments, verify identity and notify customers, and much more…all with the support of a global financial institution,” said Rob Sears, Global Head of Product and Open Platform, BBVA New Digital Businesses.
Why the Xero and BBVA Compass combo matters
BBVA is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. It one of the big three banks in Spain, is the largest financial institution in Mexico and has leading franchises in South America and the Sun Belt region of the United States.
BBVA Compass is a sunbelt-based financial institution which operates 649 branches, including 336 in Texas, 89 in Alabama, 63 in Arizona, 61 in California, 45 in Florida, 37 in Colorado and 18 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks:
- among the top 25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share
- among the largest banks in Alabama (2nd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (5th).
BBVA Compass has been recognized as one of the leading small business lenders by the Small Business Administration (SBA). It was the 5th largest nationally in the total number of SBA loans originated in the fiscal year 2016.
Xero / BBVA Compass integration
The integration leverages a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) through BBVA API Market. Bank account data sharing will use these.
The integration with Xero’s cloud-accounting solution will give small businesses who are customers of BBVA Compass an on-demand view of their cash position, along with greater data sharing security through a fully digital process. By logical extension this integration will streamline core accounting functions, such as bank reconciliation. This alone will save small businesses time and resources.
When combined with trusted advisors (accountants, for example), small business owners can better manage daily banking activities and understand cash flow in real time. If business owners can make smarter decisions, supported by accurate and comprehensive online financial data and without the hassle, those business owners may avoid the costly mistakes caused by out-of-date cash flow information.
“This partnership is a key milestone for Xero,” said Mary Buckley, Head of Financial Partnerships, Xero Americas. “Like Xero, BBVA API Market embraces open APIs to provide small businesses and their advisors with greater control, visibility and security over their financial data.
“We’re thrilled to be the first cloud accounting platform to announce a collaboration with BBVA API Market for this type of data sharing in the US. Xero is committed to working alongside innovative banks to ensure small businesses have secure access to their banking data, enabling them to get paid faster, access capital when they need it and make sound business decisions with the right insights at their fingertips.”
About Xero
Xero is a global online platform for small businesses and their advisors. The company has 1.4 million subscribers in more than 180 countries. Xero integrates with more than 600 apps. Ranked #1 by Forbes as the World’s Most Innovative Growth Company for two years running, it has:
- won Technology Provider of the Year for the British Small Business Awards
- was rated by Canstar Blue as Australia’s best accounting software three consecutive years from 2015-2017.
What does this mean
It is one of the oddities of the business, accounting and banking mixture in a computer era that bank reconciliations are necessary. They are invariably tedious. Direct, secure banking integration which delivers greater visibility and control over financial data has many attractions.
If this combination of BBVA Compass and Xero works as proclaimed, there will be many happy small business owners, and even happier accountants. The logic is clear for both partners. Xero extends its capabilities while BBVA can use the new capabilities to attract new customers.