Finastra today announced that Plaid, the leading open finance provider, is now integrated within Finastra’s Fusion Digital Banking platform. The partnership, delivered via Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud open APIs, provides financial institutions of all sizes within the Finastra ecosystem with account verification tools, making it easier and more secure for consumers to link their account data from their main financial institution with external financial apps and services.

Fusion Digital Banking is designed to adapt to advances in open finance, allowing banks and credit unions offering the platform to easily deliver the personalized experiences customers expect and rely on. Recognizing that many account holders now utilize various applications to manage their finances, the Plaid integration helps these institutions effectively meet these customer demands, ultimately helping them stay competitive with larger banks and emerging market entrants. Through Plaid’s API technology, Fusion Digital Banking financial institutions can significantly increase efficiencies and move to credential-less integrations, adding a distinct layer of security. Further, it ensures more reliable connections for customers who permission their accounts to Plaid-powered applications.

“Plaid is committed to ensuring that any financial institution, regardless of size, type, or technical readiness, can enable their account holders to permission data via API connections,” said Aly Yarris, Financial Access Partnerships at Plaid. “By partnering with Finastra’s growing ecosystem, we’re excited to help even more financial institutions give their customers the tools they need to securely and reliably access the fintech apps they rely on every day.”

Narendra Mistry, Chief Product Officer, Universal Banking at Finastra said, “As the world continues to embrace open finance, it is critical that we deliver the services community banks, credit unions, and all financial institutions need to make it simpler and easier for their customers to connect the various pieces of their financial picture. We are pleased that the more than 200 financial institutions offering Fusion Digital Banking can now give their account holders reliable and secure access to thousands of Plaid-powered fintech apps.”

Finastra’s integration with Plaid represents the broader shift toward open finance in the financial services industry. Read more about this shift in Finastra’s Financial Services State of the Nation Survey.