Banking’s digital transformation is driving an urgent need to modernize for financial institutions that want to remain competitive against neobanks and other digital-native challengers operating on modern, nimble, cloud-based technology stacks. 

That’s because consumers increasingly are demanding flexible, contextual banking and financial services experiences that legacy banking tech systems–many of which are decades old–simply can’t provide. Given the speed and scale at which this demand is growing, it’s not an exaggeration to call the need to modernize an existential one for banks’ long-term survival. 

Click here for banks’ top 3 tech priorities for 2023.

But for incumbents, the prospect of a full-scale banking core overhaul can be a daunting prospect, requiring a tremendous investment of time, effort–and, of course, funding–with a simple, clear path to a return on that investment over the short term not necessarily apparent. 

FIs in this position may feel like they’re stuck between a rock that’s particularly heavy and a hard place that’s particularly, well… hard; they must implement the technological capabilities necessary to compete in banking’s digital future, while also making sense on today’s balance sheet. 

So faced with that dilemma, what’s a bank to do? 

Think incrementally for cost-efficiency and value.

Instead of a complete “rip and replace” of your core banking tech stack, what if you could take a more incremental approach–upgrading individual capabilities on a step-by-step basis at a much lower initial cost, then using the demonstrated value of those enhancements to justify the further investment needed to modernize additional functionalities?

We think that’s a smart strategy. We also think that, for any bank ready to start on the journey to tech modernization, our Galileo Authorization Controller API is a great place to start.

What is the Authorization Controller API?

Galileo’s Authorization Controller application programming interface–or Auth API for short–is designed to easily enable bank issuers of credit and debit cards to design flexible, complex responses to authorization requests that arrive over card network rails when cardholders attempt to perform specific actions, including purchases, ATM withdrawals and balance inquiries.

Under Auth API, when Galileo receives an authorization(approval) request over a card network's rails, we pass it along to your systems, which then use pre-set logic to determine how to respond to the request. You send your response back to Galileo, and we forward it to the network, and ultimately, the cardholder. 

What are the advantages of the Auth API?

With Auth API, you can decide exactly how to respond to authorization requests based on specific criteria, such as funds available, geographic location and merchant category code. 

But beyond simply approving or rejecting a transaction based on a cardholder’s available funds or merchant type, responses can be tailored to include multiple actions that drive better user experiences for your cardholders. 

For instance, you can design a response that will transfer funds in real-time into a cardholder’s account to cover the amount of an authorization when the account has insufficient funds for an attempted purchase so that the transaction still goes through. 

And, if you’re unable to reply to an authorization request in time, Galileo can submit the response on your behalf – via critical fallback support - that ensures continued functionality even in the event that your systems become unavailable. 

How banks should prepare for ramp up in real-time payments

Legacy authorization engines, some of which were built as far back as the 1970s–before real-time funds transfer even existed–simply aren’t capable of providing that level of robust, value-added functionality when responding to an authorization request.

Auth API can also be combined with other Galileo tools to further optimize functionality. Our Events API, for instance, can be configured to automatically send your system messages when certain authorization-related events occur, so that you can validate new or updated accounts, monitor card activation, PIN settings, settlement events and much more.  

Meanwhile, pairing Auth API with our account-level controls provides even more granular flexibility when crafting authorization requests by enabling you to tailor different responses for different users of the same card product, instead of responding in the same way to all cardholders. That functionality can be particularly useful in the corporate card space, where different organizational roles may need different frequency controls, merchant type restrictions, or total spend limits. 

And because of the dynamic nature of APIs, they offer key advantages over legacy systems when it comes to protecting against the ever-increasing threat of transaction fraud because API-based processes are able to adapt quickly to fraudsters’ constantly-evolving tactics. 

Sounds great–but what about implementation?

Glad you asked. Because our Authorization Control tool is API-based, you can get up and running quickly with your existing tech stack. 

Further, you don’t need to replace any existing contracts or other vendor relationships just to start using our APIs. And, you can try it out on a single card product by simply creating a new bank identification number (BIN), before deciding whether to expand the functionality to additional cards in your lineup. (Spoiler alert: we bet you will.)

When it comes to the bottom line, Galileo can offer highly competitive pricing thanks to our cloud-optimized service platform. Instead of the complicated, multi-page pricing documents laid out by some legacy providers, our simple pricing model offers straightforward clarity on cost. 

Let’s meet banking’s digital future together.

For established financial institutions, modernizing technology for the digital banking future can appear to be a long journey. But with that future approaching fast, the time to take the first crucial step on the path is now. The good news is, you don’t have to make the journey alone.

Request a demo to learn how Galileo can help you chart a successful course into your bank’s digital future.