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Financial Account Aggregation: A New Approach

May 11, 2021|0 min read
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For decades, people have wanted a way to see all their finances in one place online. This process, known as financial account aggregation, started in the mid-1990s with the rise of a multiplicity of aggregation standards that were infrequently updated and didn’t return enough data fields to be truly useful.

For these reasons and more, the bulk of external financial account connections today occur via screen scraping — the process of gathering data from one app by inputting user credentials (such as username and password) and displaying that data in another app. 

However, the process of screen scraping also carries a range of shortcomings, especially when the connections aren’t whitelisted. For instance, screen scraped connections intermittently break, and they carry an element of risk as consumers share their credentials, which potentially increases risk across the ecosystem, compromise privacy and pose security threats for fintech companies, financial institutions, and consumers alike. 

Modern Connectivity: The Future of Finance

Because of these shortcomings, MX provides access to tokenized, credential-free API connections that use OAuth 2.0 protocols and are built with the highest security standards. 

This modern approach provides customers with the ability to approve, manage, and revoke access to their financial data. As financial institutions deploy new, modern data sharing services, MX is securing data-sharing agreements, building connections, and migrating users faster than any other provider in the market.

The benefits of modern connectivity are wide-ranging and extend beyond just aggregating accounts into one view. With the right AI and machine learning technology, modern connectivity enables people to receive personalized financial guidance. It also simplifies the process of verifying accounts compared to the legacy process of using micro-deposits. Rather than waiting 1-3 days to verify someone’s identity (and risk the possibility of customer abandonment during the onboarding process), modern connectivity enables reliable instant account verification with speeds averaging 3 seconds. 

As Jane Barratt, Chief Advocacy Officer at MX, says, "We have a strong belief that regardless of where someone chooses to bank, borrow, transact or make payments, they should be able to securely access, and transparently share, their financial information. … People who bank with the biggest banks are able to do that now. They are having a high-speed WiFi experience while others are stuck in the equivalent of dial-up land."  

Finally, modern connectivity positions companies to lead the future of Open Banking and Open Finance. Our Ultimate Guide to Open Banking illustrates how companies can invest in innovation, embedded finance, and new revenue streams by leading on this front — especially by enabling bidirectional data exchange, which empowers companies to make use of data they didn’t previously have access to. Barratt says, "It’s our commitment to accelerating that great experience for everyone through MX’s open-source, royalty-free toolkit that enables financial institutions to stand up their own open banking solution." As more and more people demand the ability to use their data how they see fit, the future of banking will increasingly be open and, by extension, rely on modern connectivity. 

"Modern Connectivity is so much more than checking a box,” says David Whitcomb, VP of Connectivity at MX. “It’s connectivity with a purpose. It’s connectivity that doesn’t just make access to a product possible — it makes a product better." That’s the key benefit of modern connectivity: It opens possibilities.

See a demo of what’s possible with modern connectivity, or learn more at https://www.mx.com/solutions/connect/

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