Since its inception in 2018 open banking has made a significant impact on the financial landscape in the UK. For over four years now, FinTech firms have been benefitting from open APIs that enable them to customise their open banking apps and services based on the consumer demand. This wouldn’t be possible without open banking platforms that have mastered open banking solutions, acting as a technological intermediary between banks and third parties for the greater good of the industry and optimal customer experience.

Open Banking Platforms

Best open banking platforms

Token

Supports merchants, banks and PSPs

Founded in 2016, Token is an open banking provider which supports merchants, banks and PSPs (payment service providers) in the practical adoption of open banking. The company prides itself on Pan-European bank connectivity with over 3000 banks which translates into two services: Token Data and Token Payments. The first one is about data aggregation using a single API and the other one concerns A2A payment initiation capability which is faster and more cost-efficient than traditional payment methods.

Seen as the market pioneers, the Token’s team is driving the implementation of such innovative payment solutions as: subscription payments, merchant-initiated payments, installment payments, automated sweeps and request-to-pay.

Direct ID

Global credit risk insights

With the constant changes to the financial landscape, global FinTechs are trying to stay competitive offering better and better solutions to their clients. Direct ID is a an open banking platform that supports such transformations especially in the field of global credit risk.

Previously known as The ID Co., the company is the brainchild of CEO James Varga, who wants to “enable the future of finance and identity”. The platform utilises open banking to provide its clients with insights regarding affordability, income verification, customer’s spending analysis and forecasting any potential financial distress.

Code & Pepper has cooperated with Direct ID on different projects, including NoMo and abrdn Choices, which are both personal finance management apps. We also assisted in integrating Salt Edge with DirectID proprietary banking data aggregator.

Envestnet | Yodlee

Connected with 15 of the top 20 US banks

Envestnet | Yodlee describe themselves as leaders in data aggregation and analytics for digital financial services. This easy-to-use open banking platform offers a comprehensive range of products and services in the fields of data aggregation, account verification, data enrichment, conversational AI, financial wellness and business insights.

With over 20 years of experience, Yodlee has worked with more than 1400 financial institutions and FinTechs around the world, along with 15 of the top 20 banks in the United States. The company also has a presence in the European market, including the UK and Germany.

Salt Edge

Assisting PSD2 compliance

Founded in 2013, Salt Edge is yet another platform that has made a name for itself, delivering open banking solutions based on access to banking data and payment initiation capabilities.

Salt Edge specialises in two areas called Open Banking Gateway and Open Banking and PSD2 Compliance Solution:

Open Banking Gateway enables companies in Europe, APAC and Americas to expedite payment and account information through a secure API. This functionality is supported with various data enrichment tools that help to achieve the ultimate business results.

Open Banking and PSD2 Compliance Solution supports companies in meeting the PSD2 and other open banking requirements in a period of one month.

Salt Edge has a truly global outreach servicing companies from all over the world from various sectors of the industry including: lending, payments, invoicing, financial management and others.

Tink | A Visa Solution

Easily implemented open banking integration

Since 2012, businesses of all sizes have chosen Tink to gain access to a broad range of financial data. Its easily implemented open banking solutions give users more financial capabilities at their fingertips. Its market coverage extends to 18 countries including the UK, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, with data integration from over 3400 financial institutions across Europe.

Described as “Europe’s most robust open banking platform”, this innovative tool gives businesses access to consumers’ personal and financial data through a single API. Results? Optimised workflows and significantly improved customer experience. The said financial data include bank accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, loans, mortgages, and investments.

March 2022 saw the complete acquisition of Tink by Visa, which is a clear indication of the company’s value and the significance of the open banking revolution as a whole.

Bud

Data enrichment, aggregation, and marketplace services

Bud is an open banking-based platform that delivers data enrichment, aggregation, and marketplace services for companies looking to engage customers, improve compliance, and generate profitable financial insights. “Our platform connects people, through the banks they trust, to financial products that make their lives better,” says Bud.

With a proven track record of working with large financial institutions, Bud is backed by such global banks as Goldman Sachs and HSBC. The platform’s user-centered approach to data solves a wide range of compliance issues in the UK and beyond. Like all open banking platforms on our list, Bud is accountable to the ICO, FCA, and other regulators.

Plaid

On a mission to improve the FinTech ecosystem

With an emphasis on open banking and PSD2 compliance, Plaid is on a mission to improve the FinTech ecosystem. As one of largest open banking APIs in Europe, Plaid certainly has clout. Among its clients we can find Betterment, Expensify, Microsoft and Venmo.

Offering open banking development services for startups and larger FinTech companies, Plaid comes with a full package of features. They include real-time account balance verification, detailed transaction histories, and user identity verification. Users can access data through a single API from over 11,000 institutions from Europe, the United States and Canada.

TrueLayer

Making “UK banks more transparent”

As advertised on its website, TrueLayer mission is to offer next generation payments and financial data. This British company hopes to make “UK banks more transparent” with various data aggregation tools for open banking. As a result, users gain more control over critical financial data.

TrueLayer connects businesses with banks via their API development services, optimising identity data, balances, and transaction information from customers’ bank accounts in order to create innovative customer-centric products from a range of industries including crypto, e-commerce, iGaming, marketplaces and financial services.

Token

Supports merchants, banks and PSPs

Founded in 2016, Token is an open banking provider which supports merchants, banks and PSPs (payment service providers) in the practical adoption of open banking. The company prides itself on Pan-European bank connectivity with over 3000 banks which translates into two services: Token Data and Token Payments. The first one is about data aggregation using a single API and the other one concerns A2A payment initiation capability which is faster and more cost-efficient than traditional payment methods.

Seen as the market pioneers, the Token’s team is driving the implementation of such innovative payment solutions as: subscription payments, merchant-initiated payments, installment payments, automated sweeps and request-to-pay.

Open banking: time for change

Open banking is proving to transform the financial industry especially with the recent acceleration in the sector of open banking payments. The 9 open banking platforms featured on this list are busy delivering new improved solutions that are making the world of payments faster, cheaper and more secure than traditional payment methods. Thanks to the best FinTech APIs, finally, the idea behind the PSD2 legislation is becoming a reality with customers controlling their data and improving their financial wellbeing.