June 2017 Summaries

The Identity product by Baker Shogry has expanded its support to over 300 financial institutions in the United States, including major banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America. This expansion significantly enhances the ability of these institutions to collaborate against fraud for the benefit of consumers. By validating identity data such as account owner's name, email, physical address, and phone number, developers can detect anomalies and mitigate fraud risks. Identity validation not only prevents fraud but also supports essential services like digitizing parts of the lending process and establishing eligibility for government assistance programs.

The past five years have seen significant growth in the fintech industry, with numerous products launched to improve financial services. However, most improvements have focused on digitizing existing products rather than creating new ones. In the coming years, we will see more fundamentally new tools and services launching, driven by stronger alignment between financial service providers and consumers. This article highlights several underserved areas of financial services where significant improvements can be made or new products created. These include better bills management, consumer-centric loan servicing, personalized insurance, tax preparation, abstractions from core banking platforms, hardware and software for bank branches, mobile bank account opening, brokerage-as-a-service, and compliance-as-a-service.

Plaid introduces two-factor authentication for the Dashboard as part of their commitment to security. Users can set up this additional layer of protection through SMS or using apps like Google Authenticator or Authy. The process is designed to be quick and simple, and users are encouraged to enable it in the Security section under Account settings. Plaid also reminds users to follow best practices for passwords and provides a Help Center for common questions.

We're excited to introduce the Plaid Changelog, a new series highlighting new products, features, and upgrades. This is followed by retroactive changelogs for April and March. The team has made significant progress in providing high-quality bank coverage. Over 900 new institutions were added to Auth endpoint, increasing support to over 1,500 institutions. Big design upgrades were launched for Plaid Link, including device-specific styling on iOS and Android to make it feel native and natural.