Fiserv and Plaid are working together to provide consumers a secure way to access and share their financial information.
Through the partnership, consumers with accounts at roughly 3,000 bank and credit union clients affiliated with Fiserv will be able to share their financial data with more than 8,000 applications and services integrated within Plaid’s network. Essentially, consumers will be able to share their financial information with their preferred third-party financial apps.
“Our partnership with Plaid allows banks and credit unions to empower consumers to access their financial information beyond the financial institution, while maintaining their trusted role at the center of people’s financial lives,” noted Matt Wilcox, President of Digital Payments at Fiserv in a prepared statement. “By facilitating access to a broad range of capabilities and experiences through third-party apps and services we are charting a course towards an open finance ecosystem that prioritizes data privacy, consumer access, and choice.”
Financial Transparency
The partnership places a strong emphasis on security. In a press release, Aly Yarris, who heads up Financial Access Partnerships at Plaid reiterated the company’s commitment to providing secure and reliable API connectivity to a broad range of financial institutions, regardless of their size or location.
Both companies also assure that the data sharing will be in line with regulations, including any anticipated guidelines noted by Dodd Frank 1033.
Data Sharing Is Vital for Financial Institutions
Financial institutions are always looking to capture valuable customer insights, and they’re able to do just that via data sharing. As David Excell, founder of Featurespace, noted in a PaymentsJournal Podcast last year, “data sharing enables the banks to protect the customer and create new experiences for that customers instead of [offering] new products and services to meet those real-time needs and requirements.”
Overall, the collaboration between Fiserv and Plaid has the potential to bring substantial changes to the financial services landscape. The effort empowers consumers to have greater control and access over their financial data, while maintaining security standards as well.