Embedded finance firm Plaid is working with Okta to integrate open finance to thousands of banks and financial institutions via its OAuth APIs to exchange data to third parties.
Financial services will be enabled through these APIs to connect seamlessly and securely to their customers through third party apps, allowing for a more efficient verification process.
Plaid and Okta are providing the integrations and support to help companies adopt the OAuth APIs – which is an authorised protocol that allows users to gain more control over how their data is shared – and will help reduce the reliance on credentials as this process does not require the user to setup a password.
Customers can integrate Plaid with Okta’s Customer Identity Cloud to securely connect their financial service, which Aly Yarris – a part of Plaid’s Financial Access Partnerships division – believes can ‘unlock financial freedom for everybody’.
She stated: “We’re excited to partner with Okta to help financial services companies adopt OAuth integrations while advancing API-based data connectivity solutions that enable consumers to have greater transparency, security, and control over their own data.
“This is a win-win for consumers who expect privacy and choice in the ways they manage their financial accounts for things like payments, budgeting, and investing.”
Over the course of the past several years, there has been a shift in consumer behaviour, requiring more connected experiences without the manual chore of moving between apps.
Plaid research reveals that 75% of US consumers agree it is important to be able to connect bank accounts with digital finance apps and services, which in turn would allow data exchanging to become a lot more efficient, but a majority of companies are yet to tap into the technology yet.
“With Okta’s independent and neutral platform, financial services companies can embrace identity best practices regardless of their technology stack, and pass the security and experience benefits onto their consumers,” added Maureen Little, Vice President of Technology Partnerships at Okta.
“We are thrilled to partner with Plaid to elevate the importance of identity across the financial services ecosystem.”
