Production-ready Open Banking in just four months: RBFCU and Tyk
Region
Americas
Sector
Financal Services
Product
Self-managed
Why Tyk?
“Tyk gives us the ability to focus on our business and value, because there’s not a lot of overhead administering the product itself. Organizationally, it gives us more confidence in what we’re delivering. And from a visibility side, importantly, it enables us to align with what we’re seeing members use.”
Ross Bender
Solution Architect
RBFCU
At a glance
Company
Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union (RBFCU) is one of the largest US-based, member-owned, not-for-profit credit unions, managing over $19 billion in total assets and serving over 1.1 million members.
www.rbfcu.org
Key features used
While other organizations waited for regulatory clarity around Open Banking (Section 1033) compliance and FDX adoption, Texas-based RBFCU laid out its strategic vision: An API-first approach that would power rapid service delivery and innovation.
At the heart of this was a focus on RBFCU’s members. By committing to seamless integrations and member control, the organization was not only keeping ahead of industry trends but also staying true to its roots.
With a partnership mindset built on long-term collaboration, community contribution, and a focus on extensibility and innovation, RBFCU found the perfect partner in Tyk.
“When we started pursuing Open Banking, it wasn’t because of regulatory needs. We saw it first and foremost as a benefit to our members: The ability to put the power of their data into their control.”
Ross Bender
Solution Architect
RBFCU
The problem
Back in 2019, when RBFCU and Tyk began mapping out what they could achieve together, there was one issue that everyone was keen to overcome: screen scraping.
Screen scraping by third-party aggregators was presenting RBFCU with headaches on multiple levels. It created security issues and interoperability was inconsistent, with no standardization. Member experiences were also suffering – all it took was a password reset and suddenly a member would find their budgeting app stopped working.
“It’s about enabling and equipping the member to utilize the services and products the way that’s best for them.”
Ross Bender
Solution Architect
RBFCU
RBFCU wanted better experiences for its members.
In addition to removing friction and frustration for members, RBFCU was also keen to achieve more efficient resource allocation and rapid feature delivery.
Enter Tyk.
Tyk’s role in delivering digital-first financial experiences
“We needed a key partner to manage our APIs and also to scale our APIs in a secure fashion.”
Raja Kandikayala
SVP/Chief Digital Officer, Web Development
RBFCU
RBFCU worked in partnership with Tyk to build a digital-first financial institution through API-first innovation. By using Tyk API Gateway, it took the administrative pain out of exposing, managing, and securing APIs. Instead, the RBFCU team could focus on business solutions and products.
APIs were at the heart of RBFCU’s digital transformation. The term “API” became known across the business as a crucial driver of innovation and success. As the API-first strategy evolved, so did organizational culture.
“It’s gotten to the point now where everyone in our organization, technical or not, knows the term API… it’s that culture of APIs drive success, drive connectivity.”
Ross Bender
Solution Architect
RBFCU
Collaborating with Tyk meant achieving new efficiencies at the same time as reducing costs. RBFCU went from spending months developing and integrating to achieving such tasks in weeks, if not days. A new release every month or two turned into multiple releases daily.
At the same time, members were reaping the rewards. The visibility that Tyk delivered into what members were using, and how, meant that RBFCU could shape its products and services precisely around members’ needs. The organization could be incredibly responsive, as well as delivering experiences that were light years ahead of the fragility and inconsistency associated with screen scraping.
The resolution
The impact on RBFCU’s business and its members has been enormous. The member-centric approach is delivering seamless third-party integrations, enabling members to put their data to use in the ways that suit them best. It has also eliminated credential sharing risks.
RBFCU is now operating with agility and flexibility at scale, managing a portfolio of 40-50 APIs, with 15-20 built internally.
Having spent six years taking a proactive, API-first approach, RBFCU can now move incredibly quickly. While competitors are spending millions on consultants and still aren’t in production, RBFCU was able to handle its successful FDX implementation with a focused internal team of three to four people over a period of four to five months. Collaboration was key.
“Our approach has always been to go with vendors that take the time to listen to our pain points, resolve our problems, and keep our needs in their roadmap. Tyk has been the perfect partner. We have continuous engagement with them. They’ve talked to our developers and had learning sessions with us. That has really helped our team grow.”
Vaishali Dalvi
VP, Web Development
RBFCU
The future with Tyk
“Our partnership with Tyk began as a highly engaged partnership and has evolved over the years to be more and more collaborative – it’s a team effort.”
Paul Ripley
Web Solution Architect
RBFCU
RBFCU’s partnership with Tyk has evolved over the years – and will continue to do so into the future.
Through its proactive, API-first approach, RBFCU is now ideally positioned to make the most of whatever emerging trends and technologies the future presents, always with its members’ needs at its core. Which is why choosing Tyk matters for future success.
“There are going to be customizations that we might need to make, so we felt the need to have a product that would be extensible and flexible to suit that.”
Chris Girvan
Web Infrastructure Manager
RBFCU
RBFCU is now benchmarking against larger national and international financial institutions, standing out as the organization that goes beyond banking through seamless integrations and member control. Having proactively built FDX-compliant APIs, it has transformed screen scraping risk into competitive advantage, leading the way in Open Banking as the rest of the sector races to catch up.
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