If you’re using cloud-based data aggregation providers like Plaid, Yodelee, or MX to power your mobile apps or platforms, you need to look at these systems from the user’s perspective:
Aggregator: “So here’s the deal: give me the username and password to your most sensitive financial data. No, really. Trust me. I’ll store that in my secure cloud, and use it to access your financial history. I promise that I’ll keep your credentials secure, and I’ll encrypt your data.”
Consumer: “Uh, no.”
Aggregator: “Your just saying that because your bank warned you about giving out your username and password. Well, they meant OTHER companies. Not us.”
Consumer: “Isn’t keeping my banking credentials and all of my data in the cloud… risky?”
Aggregator: “You’re worried about a data breach? What happens if someone hacks us? Well, we’ve never been breached so far — and really, what could a hacker do with your financial records and access to your bank accounts, anyway?”
Tough Choice
I get it. Integrating with Financial Institutions is hard. It sucks. It has always been a huge challenge, and that’s why companies like Plaid, Yodelee, MX and others exist. Your platform or app needs financial data to function, but trusting a 3rd party with your user’s data and account credentials has always been a Faustian bargain; you extract the transaction, user verification and payment/ACH information your app needs, but it’s unreliable, and low-function. Above all, it’s a potential security nightmare for you and your users.
The better choice would be direct integrations with FIs, but let’s be real. That’s not going to happen.
A Better Option
The good news is there’s an alternative: Moving the data aggregation integration point from the cloud to the edge — directly in your app. This approach is win/win/win. Our SDK enables this today.
High Security
Face it — user credentials for financial institutions are radioactive. You don’t want them. Our patented technology leverages the proven platform security on iOS and Android to safely store user’s sensitive credentials in the Keychain. They’re kept local and encrypted. This protects both you and your user. Your app will not have direct access to them. Ever.
Our SDK connects your app directly to the user’s financial institution over an encrypted, user-specific channel from the smartphone. User accounts are directly accessed by the SDK in your application. No user data is ever stored or shared with us or any 3rd party. You have the freedom to innovate and leverage that data to build value for your users, not a 3rd party data aggregator.
High Reliability
Cloud-based data aggregation providers are notoriously unreliable. Banks and bank software providers don’t like them. And why should they? The connections coming in from the Data Aggregators aren’t real users. They’re bots. Because they’re coming from the cloud they’re easy to spot and block. This has huge downstream impact to your applications and users.
Connections from your app powered by our SDK are different. Each connection is direct from the user’s device, not aggregated. And the connections are fundamentally different — they’re attended sessions. This radically improves reliability for your applications and users.
Enhanced Functionality
Imagine what you could build if your apps had direct “on network” integration with any FI. Anything that users could do with their accounts, you could do with your apps. That’s not possible with cloud-based data aggregation.
Connecting apps from the edge of the network with our SDK gives you a virtual “on network” interface to the FI with full user-level access to any functionality and data available.
There’s no excuse for exposing your users and their data
There’s now a viable alternative to cloud-based data aggregation. Sleep better at night. Upgrade your integration and build better user experiences that capitalize on the trust your users place in your platform.