Plaid Launches Data Privacy Tool Plaid Portal

Plaid will make its Plaid Portal available everywhere, the company announced in a blog post on Tuesday (January 25th), saying the tool will help people with signed-in accounts see which apps have access to financial information, controlling where it’s shared.

The announcement says people can create an account through the website, and Plaid will then match them with connections they’ve had through the app.

From there, they can view their account connections and control which apps have access to them – and if they want to disconnect financial accounts from there, they can.

“Plaid Portal is one of many tools we’re building to help better educate and empower people, and to make it even easier for them to understand and control where and how their data is shared,” says the company. “In return, we hope people can log in and use the apps and services they love with confidence.”

Additionally, the post says the company is becoming a “Data Privacy Week Champion,” referring to the international effort to build privacy, data, and trust.

The company says nearly 9 out of 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 purchased Cognito, an identity verification and compliance service, which Cognito’s Alan Meier said was an asset due to its nearly ubiquitous nature in the FinTech ecosystem.

Read more: Plaid buys Cognito identity verifier

He said this would hopefully help bridge some parts of the fragmented identity and compliance factors when connecting a bank account.

Cognito’s platform offers automatic identity verification, know-your-customer and anti-money laundering services. It enables digital financial applications to onboard customers and also reduces fraud.

On its own blog, Plaid said the idea was to simplify “every step” of the consumer journey, including the first interaction through to sending money to a friend.