first direct

first direct is a telephone- and internet-based retail bank and a division of HSBC UK Bank plc, headquartered in Leeds, England and launched in 1989. It offers personal current accounts, savings, credit cards, loans, mortgages and insurance to UK consumers with a reputation for customer service, operating with no physical branches of its own. As an HSBC brand, first direct participates in the UK Open Banking regime under HSBC UK - one of the nine CMA9 banks mandated by the Competition and Markets Authority - and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Its Open Banking surfaces conform to the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE / Open Banking Limited) standards - a public, unauthenticated Open Data API (personal current account product reference data, ATM and branch locators, published on the shared HSBC api.hsbc.com host where "first direct" appears as a distinct brand) and the FAPI-secured OBIE Read/Write APIs - Account and Transaction Information (AIS), Payment Initiation (PIS) and Confirmation of Funds (CBPII) - onboarded and documented through HSBC's developer portal at develop.hsbc.com, which serves the HSBC UK, first direct and M&S Bank brands.

first direct publishes 4 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Open Data API, Account and Transaction Information API (AIS), Payment Initiation API (PIS), and 1 more. Tagged areas include Financial-Services, Banking, Open Banking, PSD2, and OBIE.

first direct’s developer surface includes authentication, changelog, sandbox, getting-started guide, signup flow, documentation, support, and 29 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

56.6/100 strong ▬ flat Agent 43/100 agent ready Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-08-20 · rubric v0.12.0

AccessSelf serve

4 APIs 1 MCP Servers

Financial-ServicesBankingOpen BankingPSD2OBIEUnited KingdomPaymentsAccount InformationOpen DataHSBCFintech

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-08-20 · rubric v0.12.0

Composite quality — 56.6/100 · strong

Contract Quality 10.9 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 10.4 / 17

Access Clarity 5.8 / 17

Operational Transparency 4.1 / 11

Contract Governance 1.7 / 10

Discoverability 7.9 / 9

Regulatory Posture 13.3 / 15

Agent readiness — 43/100 · agent ready

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 0 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 5 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 3 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Banking & Open Finance regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/first-direct: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 4

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

MCP Servers 1

Model Context Protocol servers that expose these APIs to AI agents.

Scopes 1

OAuth scopes governing access to this provider's APIs.

First Direct Scopes

3 scopes · clientCredentials/authorizationCode

3 scopes

SCOPES

Get Started 4

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Sandbox

GettingStarted

SignUp

DeveloperPortal

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 5

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

MCPServer

AgenticAccess

WellKnown

AgentSkill

LLMsTxt

Design & Contract 6

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Conventions

Idempotency

ErrorCatalog

Conformance

Lifecycle

DataModel

Build 2

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Postman

Postman

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 6

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity

OAuthScopes

Authentication

SecurityTxt

VulnerabilityDisclosure

VulnerabilityDisclosure

Security

Security

Operate 3

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Deprecation

Deprecation

ChangeLog

ChangeLog

Support

Support

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

TermsOfService

TermsOfService

PrivacyPolicy

PrivacyPolicy

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

LinkedIn

Other 5

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Overlay

Overlay

Overlay

Overlay

OpenBanking

Source (apis.yml)

aid: first-direct
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/first-direct/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
name: first direct
kind: company
description: first direct is a telephone- and internet-based retail bank and a division of HSBC UK Bank plc, headquartered
  in Leeds, England and launched in 1989. It offers personal current accounts, savings, credit cards, loans, mortgages and
  insurance to UK consumers with a reputation for customer service, operating with no physical branches of its own. As an
  HSBC brand, first direct participates in the UK Open Banking regime under HSBC UK - one of the nine CMA9 banks mandated
  by the Competition and Markets Authority - and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation
  Authority (PRA). Its Open Banking surfaces conform to the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE / Open Banking Limited)
  standards - a public, unauthenticated Open Data API (personal current account product reference data, ATM and branch locators,
  published on the shared HSBC api.hsbc.com host where "first direct" appears as a distinct brand) and the FAPI-secured OBIE
  Read/Write APIs - Account and Transaction Information (AIS), Payment Initiation (PIS) and Confirmation of Funds (CBPII)
  - onboarded and documented through HSBC's developer portal at develop.hsbc.com, which serves the HSBC UK, first direct and
  M&S Bank brands.
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Self-serve signup (HSBC developer portal) · public Open Data
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - authentication
  - open-data
  generated: '2026-07-23'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
- Financial-Services
- Banking
- Open Banking
- PSD2
- OBIE
- United Kingdom
- Payments
- Account Information
- Open Data
- HSBC
- Fintech
tags_raw:
- Financial Services
- Banking
- Open Banking
- PSD2
- OBIE
- United Kingdom
- Payments
- Account Information
- Open Data
- HSBC
- Fintech
created: '2026-07-23'
modified: '2026-07-23'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: first-direct:first-direct-open-data-api
  name: first direct Open Data API
  description: Public, unauthenticated OBIE Open Data API exposing first direct product reference data - personal current
    accounts and related read-only reference data - published on the shared HSBC Open Data host where "first direct" is listed
    as a distinct brand. Confirmed live (HTTP 200, application/prs.openbanking.opendata.v2.2+json).
  humanURL: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
  baseURL: https://api.hsbc.com/open-banking/v2.2
  tags:
  - Open Data
  - Personal Current Accounts
  - Reference Data
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/obie-opendata-openapi.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://api.hsbc.com/open-banking/v2.2/personal-current-accounts
- aid: first-direct:first-direct-account-information-api
  name: first direct Account and Transaction Information API (AIS)
  description: OBIE Read/Write Account and Transaction Information (AIS) API for first direct accounts, exposed through HSBC's
    developer platform. FAPI-secured with OAuth2/OIDC, mutual-TLS client authentication and PSD2 strong customer authentication;
    requires FCA/TPP onboarding and OBIE/eIDAS certificates. OpenAPI pointer is the shared OBIE Read/Write standard the bank
    conforms to, not a first-direct-proprietary contract.
  humanURL: https://develop.hsbc.com/
  baseURL: ''
  tags:
  - Account Information
  - AISP
  - Read/Write
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/obie-account-info-openapi.yaml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://develop.hsbc.com/
- aid: first-direct:first-direct-payment-initiation-api
  name: first direct Payment Initiation API (PIS)
  description: OBIE Read/Write Payment Initiation (PIS) API for first direct accounts, exposed through HSBC's developer platform.
    FAPI-secured with OAuth2/OIDC, mutual-TLS and PSD2 strong customer authentication; requires FCA/TPP onboarding and OBIE/eIDAS
    certificates. OpenAPI pointer is the shared OBIE Read/Write standard, not a first-direct-proprietary contract.
  humanURL: https://develop.hsbc.com/
  baseURL: ''
  tags:
  - Payment Initiation
  - PISP
  - Read/Write
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/obie-payment-initiation-openapi.yaml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://develop.hsbc.com/
- aid: first-direct:first-direct-confirmation-of-funds-api
  name: first direct Confirmation of Funds API (CBPII)
  description: OBIE Read/Write Confirmation of Funds (CBPII) API for first direct accounts, exposed through HSBC's developer
    platform. FAPI-secured with OAuth2/OIDC, mutual-TLS and PSD2 strong customer authentication; requires FCA/TPP onboarding
    and OBIE/eIDAS certificates. OpenAPI pointer is the shared OBIE Read/Write standard, not a first-direct-proprietary contract.
  humanURL: https://develop.hsbc.com/
  baseURL: ''
  tags:
  - Confirmation of Funds
  - CBPII
  - Read/Write
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/obie-confirmation-funds-openapi.yaml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://develop.hsbc.com/
common:
- type: MCPServer
  url: mcp/first-direct-mcp.yml
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/first-direct-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/first-direct-domain-security.yml
- type: OAuthScopes
  url: scopes/first-direct-scopes.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/first-direct-authentication.yml
- type: Conventions
  url: conventions/first-direct-conventions.yml
- type: Idempotency
  url: conventions/first-direct-conventions.yml
- type: ErrorCatalog
  url: errors/first-direct-problem-types.yml
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/first-direct-conformance.yml
- type: Lifecycle
  url: lifecycle/first-direct-lifecycle.yml
- type: Deprecation
  url: https://standards.openbanking.org.uk/operational-guidelines/change-and-communication-management/
- type: ChangeLog
  url: changelog/first-direct-changelog.yml
- type: DataModel
  url: data-model/first-direct-data-model.yml
- type: Sandbox
  url: sandbox/first-direct-sandbox.yml
- type: Postman
  url: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
- type: WellKnown
  url: well-known/first-direct-well-known.yml
- type: SecurityTxt
  url: well-known/first-direct-security.txt
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/first-direct-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: Security
  url: https://www.hsbc.com/.well-known/security.txt
- type: AgentSkill
  url: skills/_index.yml
- type: LLMsTxt
  url: llms/first-direct-llms.txt
- type: Overlay
  url: overlays/first-direct-obie-account-info-overlay.yaml
- type: Overlay
  url: overlays/first-direct-obie-payment-initiation-overlay.yaml
- type: Overlay
  url: overlays/first-direct-obie-confirmation-funds-overlay.yaml
- type: Overlay
  url: overlays/first-direct-obie-opendata-overlay.yaml
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
- type: SignUp
  url: https://develop.hsbc.com/
- type: Website
  url: https://www.firstdirect.com/
- type: DeveloperPortal
  url: https://develop.hsbc.com/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://develop.hsbc.com/knowledge-article/get-started-open-banking-apis
- type: OpenBanking
  url: https://www.firstdirect.com/ways-to-bank/open-banking/
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/hsbc
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-direct
- type: Support
  url: https://www.firstdirect.com/help/
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.firstdirect.com/legals/terms-and-conditions/
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.firstdirect.com/privacy/
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

first direct

Kin Score

APIs 4

first direct Open Data API

first direct Account and Transaction Information API (AIS)

first direct Payment Initiation API (PIS)

first direct Confirmation of Funds API (CBPII)

Open Collections 1

Open Data API

MCP Servers 1

first direct MCP Server

Security Posture 3

First Direct Authentication

First Direct Domain Security

First Direct Vulnerability Disclosure

Scopes 1

First Direct Scopes

Agentic Access 1

First Direct Agentic Access

Resources

Get Started 4

Documentation 1

Agent Surfaces 5

Design & Contract 6

Build 2

Access & Security 6

Operate 3

Commercial 2

Company 2

Other 5

Source (apis.yml)