Plaid will be making its Plaid Portal available everywhere, the company announced in a Tuesday (Jan. 25) blog post, saying the tool will help people with connected accounts to view the apps with access to financial information, controlling where it’s shared.
The announcement says people can set up an account through the website, and Plaid will then match them with the connections they’ve had through the app.
From there they can look at their account connections and control the apps that have access — and if they want to disconnect financial accounts from there, they can do so.
“Plaid Portal is one of many tools we’re building to help further educate and empower people, and to make it even easier to understand and control where and how their data is shared,” the company says. “In turn, we hope people can confidently connect and use the apps and services they love.”
In addition, the post says the company is becoming a “champion of Data Privacy Week,” referring to the international effort to strengthen privacy, data and trust.
The company says nearly 9 in 10 Americans use some type of FinTech to manage their finances, so Plaid has an interest in making the digital ecosystem safer.
As PYMNTS reported, Plaid recently bought Cognito, an ID verification and compliance service, which, according to Cognito’s Alan Meier, was an asset because of its almost ubiquitous nature in the FinTech ecosystem.
Read more: Plaid Buys ID Verifier Cognito
He said that it would hopefully help to connect some parts of the fragmented identity and compliance factors in connecting a bank account.
Cognito’s platform offers automatic identity verification, know your customer and anti-money laundering services. It lets digital financial apps onboard customers and also cuts down on fraud.
On its own blog, Plaid said the idea was to simplify “every step” of the consumer journey, including the first interaction to the time sending money to a friend.
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