That was probably the intention but I think that isn't a core reason. It's more about business/tech incentives around these APIs. The industry is more risk-aver

That was probably the intention but I think that isn't a core reason. It's more about business/tech incentives around these APIs. The industry is more risk-averse, and frankly there isn't necessarily a great business case for doing integrations if you're a big bank because you don't want to be commoditized into "pipes" and then have to compete on low-margin products all the while the middle companies have better margins and skim off the top of you. At least on the consumer side. There's this meme that banks are technologically backwards and all that, and I don't think that is true or a good frame of reference to have. The scale, complexity, regulatory environment, and risk-aversion when something bad happens are far and away more relevant factors than technology is.