April 2020 Summaries

The open banking market presents both opportunities and challenges for fintechs and businesses. To navigate this space, they must consider whether to build or partner on their initiatives, particularly when it comes to accessing consumer financial data through Application Programme Interfaces (APIs). The choice depends on various factors, including regulatory requirements, cost implications, speed to market, and business goals. Building one's own APIs can be time-consuming and costly, while partnering with a third-party provider (TPP) or technical service provider (TSP) offers alternative routes to market, including reduced costs and faster deployment times. However, building an API also provides the opportunity for competitive advantage, but at the cost of staff resources and expertise. Ultimately, the decision depends on the firm's specific circumstances, priorities, and goals.

Payment Initiation in the UK is a convenient way for users to make real-time payments without manually entering account numbers or codes. This feature enables users to fund their accounts, make online payments, and pay invoices seamlessly and securely from within an app or website. Payment Initiation uses Open Banking APIs to authenticate bank accounts automatically, making it easy for customers to confirm the amount and payee information that has been pre-populated by the application. Once initiated, funds are instantly pushed to the recipient account, with the payment status returned to the developer dashboard for tracking purposes. This innovative feature is now available in the UK, expanding Plaid's mission to make money easier for everyone, regardless of their banking or residency situation.

Plaid's SDK now uses Chrome Custom Tabs (CCT) instead of Android WebViews to secure its Link module. This decision was made to overcome the technical issues associated with WebViews, such as allowing malicious code execution and providing a less-than-ideal user experience due to latency introduced by browser context switching. CCT offers a more secure, sandboxed environment while still being easy to integrate for developers and providing a better user experience than opening browser windows. To address challenges like listening to URL redirects, getting final results, and controlling the CCT process, creative solutions were developed, leveraging Android's built-in features, particularly the intent framework. The use of CCT provides a fast and secure integration solution that is recommended for other apps and SDKs.

In March 2020, Baker Shogry made significant updates to their platform. They expanded support for financial institutions in the Netherlands by adding ING, Rabobank, and ABN Amro. Additionally, they opened a second overseas office in Amsterdam. The company also added filtering capabilities by account subtype for checking and savings accounts with the Auth product. Furthermore, webhooks were introduced for Investments to notify when data has been successfully refreshed for Holdings and Investment Transactions. Lastly, updates were made to their SDKs: iOS v1.1.29, Android v1.2.1, and React Native v3.1.2.