Finicity, a leading provider of real-time financial data aggregation and insights, has agreed to use an application programming interface (API)-based method for sharing Fidelity Investments customer information, after the customer authorises such sharing, with financial apps and services that Finicity supports.
Finicity is the first data aggregation provider to sign on to use Fidelity AccessSM, Fidelity’s new data sharing API. Fidelity Access will allow Fidelity customers to provide third parties access to customer data through a secure connection without providing log-in credentials. The log-in process is replaced with direct authorisation by the customer through Fidelity and the use of tokens for authentication and access.
“As a leading financial data aggregator, we’re constantly looking for ways to provide consumers, like Fidelity customers, with more control of and better insights into their data,” said Finicity CEO Steve Smith. “This agreement will further empower Fidelity customers to use their financial data to manage and enhance their financial lives, while expanding security for when they choose to share this data.”
Consumer control is a key benefit of using APIs such as Fidelity Access. It enables consumers to provide explicit authorisation to their financial services firm for the use of their data by third parties. Fidelity Access includes a control centre on Fidelity.com and other Fidelity websites where customers can grant, monitor and revoke third-party data access at any time, meaning Fidelity customers can now securely permission the use of their data to assist with investing, retirement planning, college savings and more.
“We seek to make our customers’ financial decisions, from investing to retirement planning, easier and more transparent,” said Stuart Rubinstein, President, Fidelity Wealth Technologies. “When firms like Finicity use Fidelity Access, we are able to serve our customers better by allowing them to share and access their data in a more secure and simple manner.”
Finicity has established relationships with a variety of service and application providers that allow individuals and organisations to manage financial processes. This includes providing data aggregation for several of the most popular personal financial management (PFM) tools, as well as digital asset and income verification solutions.
Once the API-based method of data sharing is in place, expected to go live in the next few months, Fidelity customers can authorise Fidelity to permit third parties to access their financial information for use through Finicity’s data aggregation and insights platform.
