The Road(show) to Open Finance

Recently, we had a chance to visit with many financial institutions and fintechs across the U.S. and hear their perspectives on Open Finance, connectivity, and data enhancement. Here are three common themes from the conversations: 

Reliable Connections Can Make or Break

Financial institutions and fintechs need reliable connections to support data sharing and access. Many are looking at ways to connect accounts seamlessly with no need to re-authenticate each time consumers log in — and making sure it’s fast for consumers opening accounts, funding them, etc. 

Connectivity is Step 1 — The Rest is about the Data

Gaining those connections is like joining a gym — it’s only helpful if you actually use it. You have to actually go to the gym to reap the benefits after you join. Connectivity is the beginning but once you have those connections, it’s about aggregating that data, extracting it to share with other systems, and leveraging data to drive new revenue streams. 

Ending Customer Frustrations

Customer-centric teams within a bank think about open finance in terms of not frustrating their customers when fintech apps are unable to connect to their bank accounts. Think about the complaints that come in when Venmo isn’t working. How do you create frictionless consumer experiences across all the different apps and services they are using? 

At MX, our vision is a more open, frictionless, and secure financial ecosystem. The future of open finance puts the consumer experience at the center — where transferring funds, applying for loans, or making a payment is instant and embedded.