BankSimple, the potentially disruptive Web-based banking service started by Twitter forefather Alex Payne, wants your input.
The company announced it will be launching an API for use by third-party developers at the same time it releases its first Web- and mobile-accessible banking service to users. But first, BankSimple has created a listserv using Google Groups to get feedback.
The company wants to harness the attention it’s received thanks to high-profile press coverage. “We’ve decided to launch this group before publishing our stable API to get a better sense of the use cases that people are looking to support through our API,” CEO Josh Reich wrote in the Google Group, which has more than 50 members so far.
More than 20,000 people have signed up for invites, the company told the Wall Street Journal this week.
BankSimple could eventually allow a customer to make a deposit by taking a picture of a check with his or her phone, eliminate ATM fees and help users organize their finances, similar to Web-based persnal money management services like Mint. It is not a replacement for brick and mortar banks, which will take care of logistics like interest-crunching and federal deposit insurance for BankSimple’s customers.
