Open Banking in Finland

Introduction

Open Banking in Finland an internet banking method which is based on the use of open banking protocols and provides advanced capabilities for secure processing of customer information. This payment method belongs to the group of Open Banking methods and allows processing payments in euros via the banks of Finland.

The ecommpay payment platform supports processing purchases made with the Open Banking in Finland payment method. You can also perform payouts by using Payouts to bank accounts in SEPA as a complementary payment method. Note that in this case payouts can be used to issue refunds to your customers.

This article provides information about working with the Open Banking in Finland method: general insights are presented in the Overview section, while information about the actions required to process payments and perform other actions is presented in the sections that follow.

General information

Interaction diagram

Payment processing by using the Open Banking in Finland method involves the merchant's web service, one of the interfaces and the ecommpay payment platform, as well as the technical facilities of the bank and provider services.

Payments using the Open Banking in Finland method can be represented as follows.

Operations support

Various platform interfaces can be used to process payments and perform operations using the Open Banking in Finland method: purchases can be processed by using Payment Page, Gate and Dashboard (using payment links for opening Payment Page). At the same time, regardless of the interfaces used, amount limitations are applicable depending on the bank used for purchase processing.

Processing scenarios

To perform a purchase by using the Open Banking in Finland method, you need to redirect the customer to the provider service.

Scenarios for performing operations via the main interfaces of the payment platform correspond to those presented in the diagrams. Similarly, when additional capabilities are used, scenarios for performing operations can be adjusted accordingly. In addition, for payments using Open Banking in Finland method, different bank selection options are available; they are described in the Purchase by using Payment Page section of this article.Similarly, when additional capabilities are used (for example when using payment links and using separate additional capabilities), scenarios for performing operations can be adjusted accordingly

At the same time, the specifics of working with the Open Banking in Finland method include the necessity of selecting a bank for each payment. When Payment Page is used for payment processing, the customer usually selects a bank while already in the payment form. When Payment Page is opened with the method and bank preselected as well as when payments are initiated through Gate, the bank must be selected on the side of the web service and the identifier of this bank must be specified in requests. Possible options for bank selection when working with Payment Page are described in Purchase by using Payment Page, ways of using bank identifiers—in the next subsection, Supported banks.

Supported banks

Payments through the Open Banking in Finland method are carried out through banks that support the work with this method. The following table lists the names and identifiers of banks supported by the method. Keep in mind that this list is presented for informational purposes.

Since the list of available banks may change over time, it is recommended to send a POST request to the /v2/info/banks/finland/sale/list endpoint to obtain up-to-date information. This endpoint belongs to the /v2/info/banks/{payment_method}/{operationType}/list group of the Gate API. The request must contain the project and payment identifiers, signature, currency code, and payment amount, as shown in the example. Specify real payment data if possible. However, random values are also allowed.

{
  "general": {
    "project_id": 200,
    "payment_id": "ORDER_155860015",
    "signature": "K6jllym+PtObocZtr345st...=="
  },
  "payment": {
    "amount": 1500,
    "currency": "EUR"
  }
}

[
  {
    "id": 4981, // Bank ID
    "abbr": "HANDELSBANKEN", // Bank abbreviation (for internal use)
    "name": "Handelsbanken", // Official bank name
    "nativeName": "Handelsbanken", // Local bank name
    "currencies": [ // Array with information about the currencies supported by the bank
      {
        "id": 978, // Currency ID in the payment platform
        "alpha_3_4217": "EUR", // Alphabetic code of the payment currency in ISO-4217 alpha-3 format
        "number_3_4217": "978", // Numeric code of the payment currency in ISO-4217 alpha-3 format
        "exponent": 2 // The number of minor units of the currency
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": 4991,
    "abbr": "NORDEA-FINLAND",
    "name": "Nordea Bank",
    "nativeName": "Nordea Bank",
    "currencies": [
      {
        "id": 978,
        "alpha_3_4217": "EUR",
        "number_3_4217": "978",
        "exponent": 2
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": 55371,
    "abbr": "S-PANKKI",
    "name": "S-Pankki",
    "nativeName": "S-Pankki",
    "currencies": [
      {
        "id": 978,
        "alpha_3_4217": "EUR",
        "number_3_4217": "978",
        "exponent": 2
      }
    ]
  }
]

If you have any questions about working with banks supported by the Open Banking in Finland methods, refer to your ecommpay account manager.

Payment confirmation procedure

The workflow of processing purchases made with Open Banking in Finland method implies participation of banks, and in certain cases, processing payments on the side of these banks and the provider service may take up considerable time (in some cases up to seven or more days). As a result, there can be situations when the earlier information about the payment's completion or decline contradicts the final result (for example, following a notification about a declined payment, the funds are credited to the recipient's account, or vice versa).

To ensure timely and correct notification of merchants regarding the status of payments in these cases, the ecommpay payment platform uses a payment confirmation procedure. When you integrate the Open Banking in Finland payment method, discuss with your account manager the use of this procedure as well as switching of statuses of the payments with the confirmed declines to the reversed or decline status (to make monitoring and analysing payments more convenient).

The payment confirmation procedure is performed as follows:

• After the customer completes all required steps, the payment is processed on the provider and bank services side while the customer is redirected to the payment interface (Payment Page or the web service) where they receive the information about payment processing.
• A number of actions are performed on the payment platform side:
  • The payment confirmation operation is formed.
  • The payment is assigned the awaiting confirmation status—until the provider receives information about the crediting of funds.
  • A callback is sent to the web service about changes in payment status.
  • The sale operation status is set to success or decline (depending on the provider or bank specifics) until the information about payment confirmation is received from the provider side.
  • A callback is sent to the web service about changes in the status of the operation.
• On the provider’s side, the final status of funds being credited is determined, after which the information about this status is sent to the payment platform.
• On the payment platform side, the received information is processed, as a result of which the payment confirmation operation and the payment are assigned final statuses and the corresponding callbacks are sent to the web service.

The payment confirmation operation can have one of the following final statuses:

• success—when the information about the crediting of funds to the recipient is received from a service provider side. In this case the payment status is set to success and the final callback containing the payment information is sent to the web service.
• decline—when the information regarding the funds not being credited to the recipient is received from a service provider upon expiration of the specified period (which is 7 days by default and can be changed by contacting ecommpay technical support).

  In such cases depending on the project settings, that were configured during integration, the following scenarios are available:

  • The reversal operation is formed automatically and the payment platform sends the following callbacks successively: an intermediate callback, containing information about the funds not being credited and the final callback, containing the information about the purchase refund and the reversed payment status.
  • The payment status is set to decline and the final callback with information that purchase was declined is sent from the payment platform to the web service.

When using this procedure, you can also monitor payment and operation statuses by using the Gate API (by receiving responses to payment status requests), as well as the Dashboard interface.

Using payment confirmation via Payment Page and Gate is described in the corresponding sections of this article. If you have any additional questions regarding this procedure, contact the ecommpay specialists.

General information

To process a purchase through Payment Page by using the Open Banking in Finland method, the merchant's web service is required to send a request with all required parameters and signature to the ecommpay URL and receive a callback with the result.

The full sequence and special aspects of purchase processing are provided below.

Generally, when a customer confirms their intention to pay on the side of the web service, they are redirected to Payment Page where they select the payment method and, in the case of working with the Open Banking in Finland method, additionally select one of the available banks. However, in some situations, other options for choosing a payment method and bank may be relevant. For example, upon opening Payment Page, you can immediately redirect the customer to the bank selection page or limit the list of supported banks for a particular payment and display only target bank selection buttons to the customer. And from the web service side, you can control the use of such options.

The specific option of selecting the payment method and bank is determined depending on the parameters specified in the request for opening Payment Page (details). The following options are available:

• 1—when the payment form is opened, it sequentially displays separate pages for selecting a method and a bank. Then the customer selects the method and the bank (this option is used by default).
• 2—when the payment form is opened, the buttons for selecting other methods and banks supported by this method are displayed on one page. Then the customer selects one of these banks.
• 3—when the payment form is opened, the buttons for selecting other methods of the specified group and banks supported by this method are displayed on one page. Then the customer selects one of these banks.
• 4—when the payment form is opened, it displays a page with buttons for selecting all available banks for this method. Then the customer selects one of these banks.
• 5—when the payment form is opened, it displays a page with buttons for selecting only specific banks supported by this method. Then the customer selects one of these banks.
• 6—when the payment form is opened, it displays a page requesting confirmation of redirection to the service of the specific bank. Then the customer confirms the redirection.

When working with such purchases, you can use the following options for choosing a method and bank.

Information about the formats of requests and callbacks used for processing payments by using the Open Banking in Finland method via Payment Page is presented further in this section; general information about working with the Payment Page API is presented in Interaction concepts.

Request format

There are several things you need to consider when using the Open Banking in Finland method:

1. The following parameters required for any payment must be specified:
   • project_id—project identifier obtained from ecommpay during integration
   • payment_id—payment identifier unique within the project
   • payment_currency—alphabetic payment currency code in the ISO-4217 alpha-3 format
   • payment_amount—payment amount in the smallest currency unit
   • customer_id—customer identifier unique within the project
2. The following parameters required for any payment must be specified: project_id, payment_id, payment_currency, payment_amount, customer_id.
3. Additionally, it is recommended to specify the first and last names of the customer in the parameters customer_first_name and customer_last_name. If any of these parameters are missing, the payment form may display input fields for entering the missing values (details) (details are available in Submission of additional payment information).

   Additionally, when selecting certain banks the customer can be required to specify the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) on Payment Page, while selecting other banks the IBAN is specified on the provider side. Due to the specifics of the payment methods this number can only be specified by the customer separately and can't be used in requests.

4. It is recommended to specify in the request the merchant_return_url parameter with the URL for redirecting the customer to the web service, so that the customer can return to the web service by clicking the corresponding button on the payment form in case the customer does not grant their consent for payment processing.
5. 1. Selecting the method and the bank on Payment Page (1)—the default option, applied if the force_payment_method parameter and the payment_methods_options object, mentioned in subpoints 2–6 are not used.
   2. Selecting a bank among other methods on Payment Page (2)—for this option, you need to specify a string object in the value of the payment_methods_options parameter, the name of which is the method indicator (online_finnish_banks), and the value of which is the split_banks parameter set to the value true. While specifying such an object, all nested " characters (U+0022) must be escaped using the preceding \ characters (U+005C).

      "payment_methods_options": "{\"online_finnish_banks\": {\"split_banks\": true}}"

      As a result of using this option for the specified method, instead of a button for selecting it, buttons for selecting all supported banks are displayed.

   3. Selecting a bank among other methods of the specified group on Payment Page (3)—this option requires the following:
      • Specify a string object in the value of the payment_methods_options parameter, the name of which is the method indicator (online_finnish_banks), and the value of which is the split_banks parameter set to the value true. While specifying such an object, all nested " characters (U+0022) must be escaped using the preceding \ characters (U+005C).
      • Specify the openbanking group code in the force_payment_group parameter

      "payment_methods_options": "{\"online_finnish_banks\": {\"split_banks\": true}}",
      "force_payment_group": "openbanking"

      As a result of using this option for the specified method, instead of a button for selecting it, buttons for selecting all supported banks are displayed, as well as buttons for other methods of the Open Banking group.

   4. Selecting a bank among all available ones on Payment Page (4)—for this option specify the selected Open Banking in Finland method code (online-finnish-banks) in the force_payment_method parameter.

      "force_payment_method": "online-finnish-banks"

      As a result of using this option for the specified method, buttons for selecting all banks, supported by this method, are displayed.

   5. Selecting a bank among specific ones on Payment Page (5)—this option requires the following:
      • Specify a string object in the value of the payment_methods_options parameter, the name of which is the method indicator (online_finnish_banks), and the value of which is the split_banks parameter set to include the value true and the banks_id array containing the target bank identifiers. While specifying such an object, all nested " characters (U+0022) must be escaped using the preceding \ characters (U+005C).
      • Specify the selected Open Banking in Finland method code (online-finnish-banks) in the force_payment_method parameter.

      "payment_methods_options": "{\"online_finnish_banks\": {\"split_banks\": true, \"banks_id\": [4981, 4991]}}",
      "force_payment_method": "online-finnish-banks"

      As a result of using this option, buttons for selecting specified banks that support working with the specified method are displayed in the payment form.

   6. Confirming redirection to the service of the specific bank on Payment Page (6)—this option requires the following:
      • Specify a string object in the value of the payment_methods_options parameter, the name of which is the method indicator (online_finnish_banks), and the value of which is the split_banks parameter set to include the value true and the banks_id array containing the target bank identifier. While specifying such an object, all nested " characters (U+0022) must be escaped using the preceding \ characters (U+005C).
      • Specify the selected Open Banking in Finland method code (online-finnish-banks) in the force_payment_method parameter.

      "payment_methods_options": "{\"online_finnish_banks\": {\"split_banks\": true, \"banks_id\": [4981]}}",
      "force_payment_method": "online-finnish-banks"

      As a result of using this option, when opening a payment form, a confirmation page is displayed in it to redirect to the service of the specified bank.

6. Additionally, any other parameters available for working with Payment Page can be used (details).
7. After all target parameters are specified, generate a signature (details).

Thus, a correct request for opening the payment form using the Open Banking in Finland method must contain the project identifier, basic payment information (identifier, amount, and currency code), customer identifier and signature, as well as various optional parameters.

{
   "project_id": 120,
   "payment_id": "580",
   "payment_amount": 1000,
   "payment_currency": "EUR",
   "customer_id": "customer1",
   "signature": "kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldOcZzUCwX6R\/ekpZhkIQg=="
}

{
   "project_id": 120,
   "payment_id": "580",
   "payment_amount": 1000,
   "payment_currency": "EUR",
   "customer_id": "customer1",
   "signature": "kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldOcZzUCwX6R\/ekpZhkIQg=="
}

At the same time, in case of selecting a bank among specific banks (5), the request for opening Payment Page may contain additional data.

{
   "project_id": 120,
   "payment_id": "580",
   "payment_amount": 1000,
   "payment_currency": "EUR",
   "customer_id": "customer1",
   "force_payment_method": "online-finnish-banks",
   "payment_methods_options": {"online_finnish_banks": {"split_banks": true, "banks_id": [4991, 4981]}},
   "signature": "kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldOcZzUCwX6R\/ekpZhkIQg=="
}

Callback format

The Open Banking in Finland method uses the standard format for callbacks to deliver purchase results. For more information, see Callbacks (details).

The following is the example of a callback with information about a 10.00 EUR purchase made in the 239 project.

 {
        "project_id": 239,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ABC12345",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2020-11-03T14:41:38+0000",
            "method": "Finnish Banks",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": ""
        },
        "customer": {
            "id": "customer1"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 77796010023511,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2020-11-03T14:41:38+0000",
            "created_date": "2020-11-03T14:39:34+0000",
            "request_id": "4727897a23d96203f784...d22c87a7f4f473d93-00077797",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "code": "0",
            "message": "Success",
            "provider": {
                "id": 3901,
                "payment_id": "t:5nFu358iuKC3vz8g...zQLtgSSoyAQubVf",
                "auth_code": ""
            }
        },
        "signature": "8UuSBBDvR9RlVXJR+3A3JeYOOPhf...1VlLygAOq+NPNKLu37IZ0kw=="
    }

The following is the example of a callback with information about a declined purchase.

 {
        "project_id": 10801,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ABC67890",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2020-11-03T15:47:39+0000",
            "method": "Finnish Banks",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": ""
        },
        "customer": {
            "id": "customer2"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 92939010024021,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2020-11-03T15:47:39+0000",
            "created_date": "2020-11-03T15:47:02+0000",
            "request_id": "2973231f346e408fcf62f1e3388a...3971c8ccb13-00092940",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "code": "20000",
            "message": "General decline",
            "provider": {
                "id": 3901,
                "payment_id": ""
            }
        },
        "signature": "GK7q/MHaYQuUqSQiCzWFi.../6UzJhblNPSr7tj1/PWfWgCJLbnaeg=="
    }

Useful links

The following articles can be useful when implementing purchases via Payment Page:

• Quickstart and Interaction concepts—about the interaction with the payment platform by using Payment Page.
• Signature generation and verification—about the procedure of generating and verifying signatures in requests and callbacks.
• Payment processing—about the types, processing models, and possible statuses of supported payments and operations.
• One-time one-step purchase—about processing of one-time one-step purchases with immediate debiting of funds by using Payment Page.
• Handling operation processing information—about error and response codes that are used in the payment platform to record information about performing of operations.

General information

To process a purchase through Gate by using one of the Open Banking in Finland method, the merchant's web service is required to do the following:

1. Send a request with all the required parameters and signature to the ecommpay URL.
2. Receive an intermediate callback from the payment platform and redirect the customer to the provider service.
3. Receive the final callback from the payment platform.

Information about the data formats used to perform customer redirection is provided further in this section.

The full sequence and special aspects of purchase processing are provided below.

Information about the formats of requests and callbacks used for processing payments by using the Open Banking in Finland method via Gate is presented further in this section. General information about working with the Gate API is presented in Interaction concepts.

Request format

There are several things you need to consider when sending purchase requests by using the Open Banking in Finland method:

1. To initiate each purchase, send a separate POST request to the /v2/payment/banks/finland/sale endpoint, which belongs to the group /v2/payment/banks/{payment_method}/sale.
2. Each request must include the following objects and parameters:
   • Object general—general purchase information:
     • project_id—project identifier obtained from ecommpay during integration
     • payment_id—payment identifier unique within the project
     • signature—request signature generated after all required parameters are specified (details—in the Signature generation and verification) (details)
   • Object payment—payment information:
     • amount—payment amount in the smallest currency unit
     • currency—alphabetic payment currency code in the ISO-4217 alpha-3 format
   • Object customer—customer information:
     • id—customer identifier unique within the project
     • ip_address—customer IP address relevant for the initiated payment
   • Object account—customer account information:
     • bank_id—bank identifier
   • Object return_url—URLs for redirecting the customer to the web service:
     • success—URL for redirecting a customer after a processed purchase
     • decline—URL for redirecting a customer after a declined purchase
     • return—URL for redirecting the customer to the web service when working with the service of a provider or bank in cases where the customer refuses to make a payment.
3. Additionally, any other parameters included in the specification can be used.

Thus, a correct purchase request by using the Open Banking in Finland method must contain the project identifier, basic payment information (identifier, amount, and currency code), customer identifier and IP address, bank identifier, URLs for redirection and signature, as well as various optional parameters.

{
    "general": {
      "project_id": 2990,
      "payment_id": payment_id,
      "signature": "PJkV8ej\/UQVVfBaNIipTv+AWoXW\/9MTO8yJA=="
    },
    "payment": {
      "amount": 1000,
      "currency": "EUR"
      },
    "customer": {
      "id": "customer1",
      "ip_address": "66.249.64.45",
      "first_name": "John",
      "last_name": "Doe"
    },
    "account":{
      "bank_id": 22731
    },
    "return_url":{
      "success": "http://example.com/success",
      "decline": "http://example.com/decline",
      "return": "http://example.com/return"
 }
}

{
    "general": {
      "project_id": 2990,
      "payment_id": payment_id,
      "signature": "PJkV8ej\/UQVVfBaNIipTv+AWoXW\/9MTO8yJA=="
    },
    "payment": {
      "amount": 1000,
      "currency": "EUR"
      },
    "customer": {
      "id": "customer1",
      "ip_address": "66.249.64.45",
      "first_name": "John",
      "last_name": "Doe"
    },
    "account":{
      "bank_id": 22731
    },
    "return_url":{
      "success": "http://example.com/success",
      "decline": "http://example.com/decline",
      "return": "http://example.com/return"
 }
}

Formats of intermediate callbacks for customer redirection

Each payment made with the Open Banking in Finland method requires redirection of customers from the merchant's web service to the service of the provider or bank. To redirect a customer it is necessary to receive an intermediate callback from the payment platform and use the information included in the redirect_data object. The format of such callbacks is standard (details), and the following objects and parameters are included in the redirect_data object:

• body—object with data to be sent in the request body (taking into account the specifics of a particular method, this object may contain various information)
• method—parameter specifying the HTTP method for sending the request (GET or POST)
• url—parameter containing a link for redirection

  "redirect_data": {
    "body": {},
    "method": "GET",
    "url": "https://www.example.com/pay"
  }

Final callback format

The Open Banking in Finland method uses the standard format for callbacks to deliver purchase results. For more information, see Callbacks (details).

The following is the example of a callback with information about a 10.00 EUR purchase made in the 239 project.

 {
        "project_id": 239,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ABC12345",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2020-11-03T14:41:38+0000",
            "method": "Finnish Banks",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": ""
        },
        "customer": {
            "id": "customer1"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 77796010023511,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2020-11-03T14:41:38+0000",
            "created_date": "2020-11-03T14:39:34+0000",
            "request_id": "4727897a23d96203f784...d22c87a7f4f473d93-00077797",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "code": "0",
            "message": "Success",
            "provider": {
                "id": 3901,
                "payment_id": "t:5nFu358iuKC3vz8g...zQLtgSSoyAQubVf",
                "auth_code": ""
            }
        },
        "signature": "8UuSBBDvR9RlVXJR+3A3JeYOOPhf...1VlLygAOq+NPNKLu37IZ0kw=="
    }

The following is the example of a callback with information about a declined purchase.

 {
        "project_id": 10801,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ABC67890",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2020-11-03T15:47:39+0000",
            "method": "Finnish Banks",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": ""
        },
        "customer": {
            "id": "customer2"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 92939010024021,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2020-11-03T15:47:39+0000",
            "created_date": "2020-11-03T15:47:02+0000",
            "request_id": "2973231f346e408fcf62f1e3388a...3971c8ccb13-00092940",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "code": "20000",
            "message": "General decline",
            "provider": {
                "id": 3901,
                "payment_id": ""
            }
        },
        "signature": "GK7q/MHaYQuUqSQiCzWFi.../6UzJhblNPSr7tj1/PWfWgCJLbnaeg=="
    }

Useful links

The following articles can be useful when implementing purchases via Gate:

• Quickstart and Interaction concepts—about the interaction with the payment platform by using Gate.
• Signature generation and verification—about the procedure of generating and verifying signatures in requests and callbacks.
• Payment processing—about the types, processing models, and possible statuses of supported payments and operations.
• One-time one-step purchase—about processing of one-time one-step purchases with immediate debiting of funds by using Payment Page.
• Handling operation processing information—about error and response codes that are used in the payment platform to record information about performing of operations.