Facebook today announced that it has launched a payments reporting API to allow developers to download daily reports of transaction data, instead of receiving that information through email.

Facebook says the new system, which is available beginning today, will be more reliable, secure and flexible. The API has built-in checks to ensure developers receive all the data. The new report is formatted as a structured csv file, instead of the former flat tsv file. Developers are likely to find this more useful than emails. Previously only one person from a company could receive the payments report. Now multiple people can download the report. It will also allow developers to better integrate transaction data into their own systems, and with the csv file, it will continue to work regardless of whether Facebook adds more data fields in the future.

This API will also support Facebook’s transition away from Credits to local currency later this year and subscription payments. Details about how to implement the API are available here. The payments reporting API can be downloaded securely via https using an OAuth-secured HTTP interface. Facebook will stop sending daily email reports on Nov. 7.