October 2021 Summaries

This guide provides an overview of how to effectively pentest Plaid's web applications and APIs. It covers the following products: Plaid APIs, Plaid Portal, Plaid Developer Dashboard, and Plaid Link. The Plaid Portal allows users to manage connections made to their bank accounts through Plaid on apps like Betterment, Chime, Venmo, etc. The Plaid Developer Dashboard enables customers or individual developers/researchers to manage teams, users, API keys, etc. Plaid offers a variety of API endpoints that interact with Plaid products such as Transactions, Auth, Balance, etc. Plaid Link is the client-side component that users interact with in order to link their financial accounts through Plaid to their chosen apps. The guide outlines various security test cases for each product and provides detailed steps on how to effectively test them.

Plaid, a financial services product used by millions of consumers, has doubled its bug bounty rewards starting October 2021 as part of Cybersecurity Awareness month. The company first launched the program on HackerOne in November 2016 and since then has received hundreds of reports across their product portfolio, paying out dozens of bounties from low to high severity. Plaid's bug bounty program is a crucial part of its security strategy, which also includes upfront security reviews, threat modeling, automated scanning, periodic penetration testing, and a well-formed security strategy. The company has paid $22,500 in total bounties so far, with the highest reward being $2,500 for a critical vulnerability. Alongside the increased rewards, Plaid has also made minor updates to its SLAs, program rules, and program scope.

Over the past decade, the investment world has become increasingly complex with new options rooted in technology, securitization, and more. This has led to a surge in retail investors, particularly among younger generations. Two clear groups of investors have emerged: first-time investors early in their careers and experienced investors focused on wealth preservation. Understanding these groups is crucial for success in the evolving investment space. New fintechs are fulfilling social desires by transforming investing into a cultural movement, while impact investing has gained popularity due to younger generations' interest in socially responsible investments. However, there is concern about the lack of education among new investors and their potential vulnerability to market fluctuations. Traditional wealth management firms and human financial advisors still have a role to play, particularly for more experienced investors with complex assets. The most powerful model emerges when digital investment advisors and human financial advisors come together, offering the best of both worlds to investors.

PensionBee is working to simplify pension savings by providing an online platform for users to combine their existing pensions into one intuitive and easy-to-use platform. The company has teamed up with Plaid to enable a smooth "click, confirm, and carry on" experience for customers to contribute to their pensions, reducing the time it takes to transfer or contribute funds from two weeks to almost instantaneous. This partnership is part of PensionBee's goal to expand open banking into open finance, allowing users to gain access and control over all aspects of their financial lives. With Plaid's open banking platform, PensionBee will soon integrate with outside financial accounts to provide customers with insights on how to grow their money for the future, based on their actions today.

Stash, a popular investing app in the US, has boosted its deposits by 19% after partnering with Plaid, an external provider that enables users to securely link their outside financial accounts. To address slow and error-prone microdeposits and a low conversion rate, Stash sought a simpler alternative. By integrating with Plaid, Stash can now provide customers with easy access to its suite of products, including investing, banking, education, and financial advice, at an affordable membership starting at just $1 a month. This integration has significantly improved the onboarding experience for millions of Americans who want to invest in themselves but may not know where to start.

The future of payments is rapidly evolving with the rise of digital wallets and fintech apps. Plaid aims to facilitate this transition by launching an ecosystem of payment partners that will help businesses improve customer experiences, increase loyalty, and cut costs through account-based payments. This ecosystem incorporates nearly 50 partner companies across North America and Europe, including payment providers, tech firms, and BaaS platforms. By partnering with companies like Checkout.com and Marqeta, Plaid aims to create connected payment experiences for fintech users. The partnerships will help businesses save time and money while offering smoother, more secure account-to-account payment experiences in digital financial interactions.

VRPs are the next frontier of open banking payments in the UK, with the Competition and Markets Authority mandating their implementation by the end of January 2022. This technology allows consumers to approve transactions that vary month-to-month, enabling them to better manage their financial lives. VRPs have numerous use cases, including smart savings and overdraft schemes, control over subscriptions, one-click payments, account funding, and bill pay, which can simplify and speed up various financial processes. The technology represents a major leap in open banking, with consumer demand expected to create a market for it, spurring fintech and legacy financial institutions to adopt the infrastructure to support VRPs. Plaid is developing a VRP product to fuel open banking adoption and give consumers even more control over their finances.

Day 2 of Plaid Forum focused on new tools and resources to improve developer experience. Highlights included the launch of Plaid Pattern sample apps for personal financial management and account funding use cases, new client libraries in various programming languages, and the introduction of Plaid Transfer, a complete ACH solution for lenders. Additionally, updates were made to the developer Dashboard to enhance troubleshooting capabilities and improve customer support. The event also covered migration tools to help developers transition to bank APIs and OAuth for reliable data access.

Day 1 of Plaid Forum featured discussions on the future of fintech and new product enhancements aimed at providing better financial freedom for consumers. Key highlights included a new ACH risk tool, improvements to Plaid Link, updates to the Transactions endpoint, and expanded features in Plaid Income. Additionally, workshops and Q&A sessions were held, with keynotes now available on demand. The focus of these enhancements is to provide better data quality, insights, and user experiences while also expanding into new markets.

The Plaid newsletter for October 2021 highlights several key updates, including the launch of a new endpoint for recurring transactions, an updated Account Select pane for Link, and a new security questionnaire in the developer Dashboard to facilitate OAuth migrations. A virtual conference, Plaid Forum, is also taking place on October 13-14, featuring discussions on new products and ideas powering digital financial services. Additionally, there are updates on embedded finance, including a webinar on November 3, and reminders to upgrade to the latest mobile SDKs by September 1, 2022.

The Fintech Effect 2021: Fintech's Mass Adoption Moment' report reveals that fintech has reached mass adoption, with 52% more U.S. consumers using technology to manage their finances in 2021 compared to the previous year, reaching 88%. This growth is attributed to the strong benefits and positive outcomes provided by fintech, including saving time (93%), money (78%), and making smarter financial decisions (73%). The report also shows that fintech use is becoming more widespread across age, race, gender demographics, with usage approaching parity. Consumers expect interoperable financial services and are more comfortable talking about money, with 71% feeling more confident in their finances as they use more fintech. Trust in fintech increases with use, and the mass adoption of fintech signals a significant shift in consumer behavior, changing how people interact with their financial information and money, and fueling innovation across every segment of finance.