The financial industry is a closed industry.  In order to become a prepaid program manager, even, I have to sign a deal with a bank, which has signed a deal with Visa or MasterCard.  I have to marshal IT resources and stand in line to get a processor to accommodate my custom feature.  Most networks and products require proprietary connectivity.  This limits innovation and access to the best financial services by consumers and business.

What would happen if I could connect into a global payments network?  Or take advantage of GPS location on mobile phones?  Or tap into risk management systems for my new credit product?

I’d love to see more of what PayPal’s X platform is doing (and Visa’s Authorize.net threatens to), by making it possible for you and me to write an app that takes advantage of their network.  Or what IOs and Adroid allow app developers to do with millions of smart phones.  One of the reasons we invested in Plastyc, Inc is their open API, which makes it one of the most feature rich prepaid accounts we’ve seen.  These APIs will be as transformative to financial services – especially to those who have less access and who see less innovation – as the elevators were to cities.

I’m waiting for the bank who can develop a set of APIs into their services – with the right controls and quality standards that meet the highest regulatory standards.  Or a telco to do the same.  Or what about FICO or Experian?  Wouldn’t you use it?  Let’s build some open source for the underbanked.