Aion, DiPocket, and Modulr have signed up to Mastercard’s Open Banking Protect solution.
Trio of fintechs sign up to Mastercard’s Open Banking Protect
Protect is part of the card issuer’s Open Banking Solutions portfolio. It claims to improve the ability to combat fraud in open banking.
Under the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), third-party providers can access bank accounts with customer consent.
If things should go wrong the account holding institution can be left holding the responsibility. Mastercard argues therefore that it is important they have robust warning systems in place.
The trio of ifntechs are collaborating with Mastercard to “enhance their ability to identify fraud in a new ecosystem”.
“While there is strong momentum in the open banking ecosystem, financial institutions, TPPs and users continue to be concerned about the potential for fraud and security breaches,” says Jim Wadsworth, senior vice president for open banking at Mastercard.
“Collaboration is key to building a resilient open banking market, and we are delighted that Aion, DiPocket, and Modulr are the latest in a series of partnerships for Mastercard.”
Cyrus Wadia, payments strategy director for Modulr, praised the deal. She states that the partnership aids in the firm’s “bid to eliminate the hidden inefficiencies that have traditionally proved costly to UK businesses.”
Data and open banking
Mastercard splashed the cash late last month to acquire data aggregation firm Finicity in a $825 million deal.
The purchase follows rival Visa’s giant acquisition of Plaid for $5.3 billion in January.
Much like Plaid’s open banking services, Finicity allows firms to gain financial insights around payments, account verification, and transactions.
Mastercard launched a suite of open banking solutions in Europe and Finicity is an accompaniment to that focused on the US market.
Mastercard’s acquisition of Finicity will close by year’s end, subject to regulatory approvals.
Related: UK court rules against Mastercard and Visa on interchange fees
