24-02-2023 14:34

Get live bond data at your fingertips with our seamless API

Nordea's new fixed income API provides direct access to our raw bond data and models, allowing companies to integrate the data into their own software and systems. The goal? To help you streamline your workflow, save time and maximize returns.
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The old days of spreadsheets and manual processes are rapidly giving way to a new era of sophisticated algorithms and so-called application programming interfaces (APIs). The same holds true in the fixed income space.

Nordea is the first Nordic bank to launch a fixed income API, which means that clients no longer need to log on to the Nordea Analytics platform to access bond prices, key figures and yield curves. The Python API provides direct access to Nordea’s raw data feeds and models, allowing companies to integrate the data into their own software and systems. They can then combine this information with data from other vendors and customise it for their own needs.

“I like to visualise it as a set of Lego bricks,” says Anders Skytte Aalund, Head of Trading Strategy at Nordea Markets who helped develop the API. “All the different data vendors are bricks going into the full build.”

I like to visualise it as a set of Lego bricks. All the different data vendors are bricks going into the full build.

Anders Skytte Aalund, Head of Trading Strategy at Nordea Markets

Eliminate manual tasks

The Nordea Markets team developed the new API in response to client demand. Large corporates and institutional investors have a growing appetite for streamlining, automating and optimising internal processes, according to Aalund.

In the past, a finance professional would have had to log onto the Nordea Analytics platform, look up the data and copy-paste it back into their own system or spreadsheet. The API eliminates that manual process, allowing the data flow to happen automatically in the background. That automated process not only saves valuable time, it also minimises the risk of human error.

“It may sound counterintuitive that companies are asking us for simpler solutions, for the output in raw data format. But that’s the shift currently under way in the financial sector. We provide the raw functionality, and they build something on top of it,” says Aalund.  

Functionalities in the Fixed Income API

  • Historical key figures
  • Curve functionalities
  • Calculation engine
  • Live streaming of prices and key figures
  • Bond indices
  • Nordea forecasts
  • Consistent pricing

Track positions in real time

The solution provides direct access to live data, allowing users to follow their positions in real time, spot any risks and decide whether to hedge them. In the past, bondholders would have to rely on the end-of-day numbers from the day before.

“When markets are as crazy as they’ve been in the current environment, that’s not good enough. Many clients want to know how their portfolio works intra-day, allowing for a more sophisticated analysis,” says Aalund.

One user at a large Nordic institutional client says he uses the API to “customise an already great source of research with real-time data.”

“Having access to dependable data and models is crucial in a market like Scandi FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) where the global banks are absent. Nordea also offers great support and examples to get you going,” he says.

In addition to the fixed income API, Nordea is also revamping Nordea Analytics into a web-based app with a modernised interface and greater functionality.

How does an API work?

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary allowing two applications or systems to talk to each other. APIs allow your systems and Nordea’s systems to communicate and automatically perform tasks that would otherwise be handled over the phone or on separate platforms.

Our API products are available to customers, and, in some instances, third parties on our Open Banking Platform. To check if you have the technical integration required to connect to and use the API, you are welcome to check your workflows in our sandbox environment without any additional onboarding.

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