October 2022 Summaries

Plastic surgery, identity theft, or using fake biometric data are just a few examples of how presentation attacks can occur. Presentation attacks happen when someone uses another person's physical characteristics to impersonate them in order to gain access to their accounts or services. To combat this type of fraud, biometric verification is used which compares a person's physical characteristics to verify their identity. However, the risk of presentation attacks grows as more people complete identity verifications online and identity thieves become more sophisticated. To mitigate the risk of presentation attacks, robust protection is needed, including verifying identities across authoritative data sources, documents, and liveness. Plaid Identity Verification uses advanced image processing and machine learning to combat fraud by detecting pixel changes, deep fakes, masks, and more. It also offers a conversion-optimized funnel to reduce risk and improve new user sign-up rates. The solution balances security with user convenience and is optimized for secure online identity verification processes.

The 2022 Fintech Effect Report revealed that over half of Americans experienced increased financial stress in the past year and turned to financial technology for support. With eight in ten using digital financial apps and services, enabling consumers to connect their accounts together is crucial. During the pandemic, fintech adoption skyrocketed as consumers leveraged innovative digital finance tools to manage their money better. The majority of fintech users (78%) prioritize the ability to connect their accounts when choosing a bank, with 70% considering switching banks if financial data portability isn't enabled. Financial service providers play a critical role in helping consumers tap into the benefits of data connectivity during economic uncertainty. Three key themes for meeting consumer needs are expanding data access, increasing transparency, and empowering consumers to better manage their finances. Plaid offers Data Connectivity Solutions to help enable network connections and support healthier financial lives.

Plaid is bringing its account-linking technology, Plaid Link, to the web3 space through Wallet Onboard, a safe and easy way for developers to onboard their consumers through a seamless wallet-linking experience. This allows consumers to connect their crypto wallets across all of web3 in a personalized and fast process. Wallet Onboard was built on top of Plaid Link, a familiar and trusted user interface used by almost one in four Americans today, and abstracts the technical work required to onboard and manage wallet connections for developers. It provides a single integration for over 300 self-custody crypto wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet, and Ledger, and automates updates and optimizations as new wallet integrations are added. This enables developers to focus on building new web3 product experiences for consumers while providing a secure and easy onboarding experience for end-users.

The 2021 Fintech Effect surveyed UK consumers for the first time, finding that 86% of consumers used fintech to manage their money in 2021. This marks a significant increase from 42% in 2018. In 2022, 84% of UK respondents use fintech to manage their money, highlighting the continued growth and adoption of financial technology services. Fintech has been adopted across demographic groups, with around 80% of men and women using it. Over the next six months, respondents expect to manage 72% of their finances digitally on average, up from 67% today. The high adoption of fintech should be put in the wider economic context, as UK consumers are very concerned about the state of the economy and the cost-of-living crisis. Fintech is helping millions of Britons manage their financial lives and plays a vital role in the UK economy, generating £11 billion in revenue annually and employing nearly 80,000 people across the country.

Plaid is introducing its Privacy Controls suite, which includes a new API product called Permissions Manager, designed to give consumers greater visibility and control over their financial data sharing connections made through Plaid. This product allows data partners to build their own consumer permissions portal, enabling customers to view a real-time list of connected apps and disconnect any they no longer want to use. The suite also includes other products such as Plaid Link and Plaid Portal, which provide consumers with more control over their financial data sharing and allow them to see the data types being requested by an app and permission the accounts they want to share. With this new suite, Plaid aims to empower its data partners to strengthen relationships with their customers, adapt to a changing regulatory environment, and be leaders in consumer data privacy. The products are available at no cost and are part of an open finance program, enhancing Plaid's Data Connectivity solutions.

Plaid's 2022 Consumer Survey reveals that eight in ten consumers are using digital financial apps and services, with half of Americans managing their finances daily through fintech. The use of fintech has increased by 10% year-over-year, highlighting its central role in consumers' financial lives. Despite economic challenges such as inflation and market volatility, 61% of consumers say financial technology helped them weather these issues. Consumers are increasingly seeking control, transparency, and great experiences from fintech apps, with 95% wanting greater control over their financial data. Financial companies have growth opportunities if they can better support consumers' financial needs and provide more financial knowledge to customers who crave it.

Wise, a cross-border payments provider, was founded in 2011 with the mission of making international money transfer cheap, fair, and simple. The company disrupted the cross-border money flow markets with its unique cross-currency exchange model and became the go-to app for millions of people and businesses managing their money across the world. Wise turned to Core Exchange to provide customers with an API solution that doesn't require sharing credentials, allowing users to easily send funds via APIs. With Plaid's Privacy Controls suite, Wise users can now view and manage their banking connections in real-time using the Wise website or app, bringing transparency to finance. Ankita D'Mello, Senior Product Manager at Wise, discussed how they're using Plaid's Data Connectivity & Privacy Controls suite to deliver a seamless customer experience, including secure data connectivity, permissions management, and open finance capabilities. The partnership with Plaid has enabled Wise to collect money from customers via ACH by quickly establishing a connection to their bank account, making it the most popular and convenient pay in method. Ankita highlighted that implementing Core Exchange and Permissions Manager was a smooth experience, with strong demand for the feature from customers, resulting in less than 1% error rates. The integration has increased convenience for Wise's customers, enabling them to connect their accounts to over 6,000+ apps and services powered by Plaid, furthering Wise's mission of making money transfer convenient and transparent.

Plaid Identity Verification (IDV) is a solution that helps digital financial services apps onboard customers more quickly and securely. The platform aims to reduce the time and resources spent dealing with identity-related fraud, which costs US businesses an estimated $721 billion in 2021. IDV has added two new features: a faster verification process and a more intelligent anti-fraud engine. The former uses autofill technology to speed up customer verification from 30 seconds to as little as 10 seconds without sacrificing security. The latter analyzes behavioral attributes during the signup process, including device behavior and how users enter personal identifiable information. This helps catch risky behavior consistent with bad actors, fraud rings, and bots. IDV is built into the Plaid Link SDK and is available for Plaid customers to get started easily.