Plaid has upgraded its Auth product which enables developers at firms like Acorns, Chime, and Coinbase to authenticate accounts from any of the 11,500 banks and credit unions in the U.S.
Account authentication is the cornerstone of data aggregation, essentially pairing a bank account and its data to its owner.
What's happening: In less than a year, Plaid essentially tripled its coverage of financial institutions where it can authenticate accounts. That's an important move because fintech and financial services apps and software that use Plaid need to be able to authenticate a user's bank information no matter where she banks.
Boosting coverage: Plaid's Auth will still authenticate accounts in seconds using credential-based login for the approximately 3,800 U.S. financial institutions it previously covered. Deposit accounts aren't evenly distributed and this coverage meant that Plaid could authenticate around 90 percent of deposit accounts.
Other institutions can offer authentication using bank account information and the use of micro-deposits.
"Being able to route customers – regardless of how modern and "up to date" their bank is – through a single flow has materially improved our ability to focus on our core business with confidence," said Isaac Sparling, founder and CTO of Rumbleship Financial, a Plaid customer.
"Integrating the flow was a breeze, and we've significantly decreased the time it takes to get a customer into the purchasing flow."