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Back when I worked at a FinTech company there was a push to use Plaid to dramatically simplify parts of our process. I couldn't get over how terrifying this ser

Back when I worked at a FinTech company there was a push to use Plaid to dramatically simplify parts of our process. I couldn't get over how terrifying this service was though. Honestly, it was a part of what made me quit that job. There were alternative ideas like the EU's Open Banking initiative (IIRC) we could have tried to look at, but nothing was anywhere near implemented. Nothing is forcing the banks in the US (where I worked) to implement anything like this. I'm not even sure it's working in the EU yet? Anyway, this brings back nightmares. Glad I haven't been plagued with plaid since then... yet. knocks on wood

dnet 5y ago
> I'm not even sure it's working in the EU yet? It's called PSD2 and it applies EU-wide since September 2019. Banks have to make _some_ form of API available to third parties. However, these third parties must meet certain criteria and get a license in one of the member states. This makes sense since they can access financial data, and they only have to do it once. So a fintech licensed in e.g. Belgium can access the APIs of a bank in France and vice versa. Since banks already have most of the necessary rules and paperwork in place, I've seen many banks themselves become PSD2 clients as well, offering customers the ability to manage "foreign" bank accounts through their app as well.