GSMA Mobile Money API: Assets
Welcome to the GSMA Mobile Money API Assets. On this page, you can learn more about the technical principles behind the API and best practice security recommendations, as well as guidance on how providers should implement the API and how client solutions can use it.
The APIs support the core set of mobile money use cases:
- Interoperability between mobile money and banks, and between mobile money providers;
- Merchant payments, online and offline (including delegated authentication);
- Bill payments (including instant payment notification);
- Basic account management;
- International transfers (including quotations);
- Bulk transactions; and
- Cash in/out.
The key design principles of the Mobile Money APIs are:
- Use of REST architectural principles;
- Providing a set of well-defined objects;
- Standard set of transaction types;
- Use of ISO international standards for Enums such as currency and country codes;
- Support for supplementary metadata for mobile money provider-specific properties.
The API security guidelines ensure that best practices are applied to the connection between the API client and the API gateway, and to authenticating an end-user to the mobile money platform.
The Mobile Money API Specifications
The current published version of the Mobile Money API Specification 1.0.0 was published in 2016, after initial collaboration with industry stakeholders such as mobile money providers, platform vendors, third-party service providers and other industry partners.
This is currently in development in collaboration with the industry and is due to be published in Q1 2020.
A newer version of the Mobile Money API Specification 1.1 has updated over the last year with industry feedback and is currently in Beta mode.
The 1.1 API adds improved support around filters, identifiers, authorisation, conditionality, bill payments, quotations and fees, as well as improved support for asynchronous callbacks to clients and an update of the Spec to the OAS 3.0 framework.
GSMA plan to finalise this version of the API with the industry and release it publically in early 2020 after final approval from all stakeholders.
Developer Tools
GSMA have provided developers with some Developer Tools to assist with developing a Mobile Money API which meets the specification requirements.
Developer Portal
The Mobile Money Developer Portal supports the latest published version of the specification (1.0.0).
The portal provides developer documentation for the main API Specification areas and also describes the best practice security recommendations. It includes a Swagger Interface and a link to the Simulator environment to test code against the APIs. There is also an Authentication Gateway which adopts the best practice security recommendations, and example Postman Collections which allow developers to test the APIs through this gateway.
GSMA Simulator
The GSMA Simulator for the Mobile Money APIÂ supports the latest published and Beta versions of the specification (1.0.0 and 1.1.0 Beta).
The Simulator also provides a Swagger Interface and a link to the Simulator environment to test code against the APIs.
The GSMA Simulator will be released soon, please check back later.