Finicity, a Mastercard company and leading provider of open banking solutions, has signed a data access agreement with Brex.
“Finicity has been collaborating in earnest with financial institutions in signing data access agreements with banks and other traditional financial institutions. With our agreement with Brex, we are now extending our approach to fintechs,” said Finicity CEO and Co-founder Steve Smith. “We look forward to working with Brex in pioneering the way financial data is utilized to help businesses grow and achieve their goals.”
Mastercard announced it has completed its acquisition of Finicity, a leading North American provider of real-time access to financial data and insights.
“Today is a great milestone as we continue to build out the solutions that deliver on the potential of open banking,” said Craig Vosburg, president, North America, Mastercard. “We now turn our focus on bringing these two talented teams together. That starts with our shared commitment to consumer-centric data practices to create more value for consumers and businesses from the information in their account and give them more control in how that data is used.”
BMO Harris and Finicity sign a data access agreement in an effort to give consumers more control and secure access to their financial data. The agreement also defines rules for how Finicity and BMO will communicate and exchange financial data.
Agreement Demonstrates BMO’s Focus on Customer-Centric Digital Advancement and Open Banking
CHICAGO & SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – November 12, 2020 – Finicity, a leading provider of open banking solutions, announced today with BMO Harris Bank that they have signed a data access agreement. The agreement signals a commitment to empower consumers with more control and secure sharing of their financial data.
The agreement enables BMO’s customers to have more secure and convenient access to their financial data, empowering them to manage their finances, access capital, and make financial progress. The data access agreement defines common rules for how Finicity and BMO will communicate and exchange financial data.
Finicity embraces five core consumer-permissioned data sharing principles: access, control, transparency, traceability, and security. As consumer-permissioned data sharing continues to grow, these principles can empower consumers with control and awareness of which parties have access to their financial data, what aspects of financial data they want to share, and how to modify the access. Customers retain ownership of their data and have the ability to consent to which data will be shared.
BMO customers will also be able to take advantage of Finicity’s open banking platform to permission access to their financial data for their own benefit across a variety of apps and services. For example, Experian Boosttm enables customers to permission financial data that is added to their credit file, which engages consumers more directly within the credit scoring process.
“It’s important for our customers to be in control of their financial lives,” said Hugh McKee, head of BMO Partners. “This partnership with Finicity not only empowers our customers with more control over their financial data, it also creates an environment for them to meet their goals built on transparency and security.”
“Finicity continues to be at the forefront of partnerships with financial institutions to provide the most robust and secure data sharing environment through our open banking platform,” said Finicity CEO and Cofounder Steve Smith. “Working with forward-thinking organizations like BMO Harris will have a real impact on driving better financial outcomes for consumers, including financial literacy and financial inclusion.”
Finicity continues to take a market leadership role by signing a data access agreement with BMO Harris, marking its eighteenth agreement. Finicity’s signed direct access agreements represent more than 50% coverage access of all direct deposit accounts in the US through direct API connections.
Visit www.bmoharris.com to learn more about their innovative approach towards digital banking. To learn more about Finicity open banking platform and its commitment to fast, reliable and high-quality data, visit www.finicity.com.
About BMO Harris Bank
BMO Harris Bank provides a broad range of personal banking products and solutions through more than 500 branches and fee-free access to over 40,000 ATMs across the United States. BMO Harris Bank’s commercial banking team provides a combination of sector expertise, local knowledge and mid-market focus throughout the United States. For more information about BMO Harris Bank, visit the company fact sheet. Accounts are subject to approval. BMO Harris Bank N.A. Member FDIC. BMO Harris Bank is part of BMO Financial Group, a highly diversified financial services provider with total assets of CDN$974 billion as of July 31, 2020.
About Finicity
Finicity’s mission is to help individuals, families, and organizations make smarter financial decisions through safe and secure access to fast, high-quality data. The company provides a proven and trusted open banking platform that puts consumers in control of their financial data, transforming the way we experience money for everything from budgeting and payments to investing and lending. Finicity partners with influential financial institutions and disruptive fintech providers alike to give consumers a leg up in a complicated financial world, helping to improve financial literacy, expanding financial inclusion, and ultimately leading to better financial outcomes. Finicity is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. To learn more or test drive its API, visit www.finicity.com.
Crowdfund Insider covers the direct data agreement between Charles Schwab and Finicity. Through the partnership, both organizations will focus on enhancing the security of consumer-permissioned data by using an API. The Open Banking API will be used to share data. Schwab’s customers that work with third-parties and apps that use Finicity solutions may securely connect to and provide direct access to their financial account data.
Read the full article.
Mary Ann Azevedo from FinLedger provides details on the direct data agreement between Finicity and Charles Schwab and provides more insight as to why these agreements are important in Finicity’s mission to put the consumer at the center of their financial data.
Read the full article on FinLedger.
API Integration Will Provide Consumers Enhanced Control and Security Over How Their Data is Shared With Third-Party Apps and Services
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – September 18, 2020 – Finicity, a leading provider of open banking solutions, announced today that it has signed a direct data agreement with Charles Schwab. This engagement is designed to enhance security of consumer-permissioned data through the use of an application programming interface (API).
Through the API-based method of data sharing, Schwab clients of third-parties and apps that use Finicity solutions, can more securely connect to and allow direct access to their financial account data.
“Finicity is committed to delivering our clients superior data access, quality, and security so that they can change the way their customers interact and benefit from their own financial data,” said Finicity CEO and Co-founder Steve Smith. “We are helping consumers to become more empowered with their financial data and utilize it in ways that improve their financial lives.”
This API integration with Charles Schwab provides the broader fintech and financial services community with access, through Finicity, to client-permissioned financial account data to deliver a variety of apps and services across financial management, payments, lending and beyond. The result is improved data stability and accuracy.
The direct API experience will allow consumers, through their Schwab account relationships, to permission access to their account data.
Finicity and Charles Schwab both use the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) API specification leveraging Open Authorization (oAuth) technology while eliminating the need for the user to share credentials when providing access to their data.
Finicity has established relationships with a wide variety of service and application providers that allow individuals and organizations to better understand, manage, and control financial processes – everything from budgeting, saving and borrowing to transacting, investing and lending. Finicity works with many of the most popular PFM (personal financial management) tools, and many of the largest lenders and most innovative payment providers, among other services.
To learn more about Finicity data services and their commitment to fast, reliable and high-quality data, visit www.finicity.com.
About Finicity
Finicity’s mission is to help individuals, families, and organizations make smarter financial decisions through safe and secure access to fast, high-quality data. The company provides a proven and trusted open banking platform that puts consumers in control of their financial data, transforming the way we experience money for everything from budgeting and payments to investing and lending. Finicity partners with influential financial institutions and disruptive fintech providers alike to give consumers a leg up in a complicated financial world, helping to improve financial literacy, expanding financial inclusion, and ultimately leading to better financial outcomes. Finicity is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. To learn more or test drive its API, visit www.finicity.com.
New agreement signifies alignment between TD and the financial technology company about access to customer financial data
TORONTO, August 7, 2020 – TD Bank Group (TD) today announced a new data-access agreement with Finicity, which lays the groundwork for customers to request TD to facilitate the transfer of their financial data to services they want to use, including personal financial management apps supported by Finicity.
The North American agreement signifies alignment between TD and the financial technology company (Fintech) about how Finicity will access a customer’s financial data once directed by a customer of both TD and the Fintech. On the customer’s request, TD will transfer the customer’s financial data to the Fintech through a technology known as Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that may eventually eliminate the need for customers to share their banking login ID or password in order to access third-party financial products and services.
Protecting Consumer Data
Consumers who are currently using financial products and services provided by some Fintechs are sharing their banking credentials in order to access these products and services. An API-based approach will help raise the level of data security for customers who want to use third-party financial management apps.
“The significant surge we have seen in the adoption of our own digital products and services has accelerated our work to create a market-led technology solution that will give customers looking to access digital services that are outside their bank, more comfort that they are transferring their financial data safely,” says Rizwan Khalfan, Chief Digital and Payments Officer, TD. “Our customers want digital solutions and we are focused on supporting their choices.”
Consumer-Directed Finance and Open Banking
The agreement with Finicity is part of TD’s response to customers’ need to leverage data stored with financial institutions for digital services. TD is a founding member of the Financial Data Exchange (FDX), a US-based industry consortium that promotes solutions to protect customer data, supports an API-based technology protocol and that recently launched in Canada with the support of leading Canadian banks and Fintechs. TD also recently invested in Akoya, a new, US-based company that will operate an API-based network for the secure sharing of financial data. In Canada, TD has been involved in government consultations to move Consumer-Directed Finance forward, while helping to protect consumer interests.
“We are committed to delivering superior data access, quality and security through the Finicity Open Banking platform, transforming the way consumers interact with and benefit from their own financial data,” said Finicity CEO Steve Smith. “Together with TD Bank, we are allowing consumers to become more empowered with their financial data and utilize it in ways that improves their financial lives.”
About TD Bank Group
The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group (“TD” or the “Bank”). TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves over 26 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world’s leading online financial services firms, with more than 14 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.7 trillion in assets on April 30, 2020. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol “TD” on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.
About Finicity
Finicity’s mission is to help individuals, families and organizations make smarter financial decisions through safe and secure access to fast, high-quality data. The company provides a proven and trusted Open Banking platform, that puts consumers in control of their financial data, transforming the way we experience money — everything from budgeting, payments, investing and lending. Finicity partners with influential financial institutions and disruptive Fintech providers alike to give consumers a leg up in a complicated financial world, helping to improve financial literacy, expanding financial inclusion, and ultimately leading to better financial outcomes. Finicity is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT.
Finicity CEO Steve Smith spoke to Banking Dive about the Mastercard deal, how it compares to Visa’s plans with Plaid, and the future of open banking in the U.S. Read the full Q&A at Banking Dive’s website.
In a discussion with Squawk on the Street’s Jim Cramer, Michael Miebach, Mastercard president and incoming CEO, discusses the acquisition of Finicity for $825 million as well as how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted business.
Watch the video below or watch it on CNBC’s website.