Back in the day, everyone had one trusted bank account and a branch manager to dole out money on demand. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, that\u2019s a hard scenario to imagine. Even the average unbanked and underbanked consumer uses several alternative financial accounts. Your average Millennial (and even their progressive Boomer parents) carries multiple cards, holds several investment accounts, uses investment apps, and sends money using any method but a bank.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s financial industry has no lack of solutions. Amidst the range of choices, modern consumers may start feeling that less is more and steadily drift toward account aggregation.<\/p>\n
Account aggregation is the process of housing all of a consumer\u2019s financial data under one roof.<\/b><\/p>\n
In essence, account aggregation services act as universal connectors, pulling transactional, savings, investment, tax, and credit data together into one virtual warehouse that can then be plugged into any type of financial application:<\/p>\n
Think about how your email account is the hub for so many things in your life \u2014 personal and business communication, PayPal purchases, Venmo transfers, Uber rides, and late-night sushi orders.<\/p>\n
Account aggregators attempt to assume the same role but offer an even more granular view into all financial aspects of your life from a single dashboard.<\/b><\/p>\n
Being this keyholder to all customer data gives account aggregation services an upper hand on the financial market. They can drive extra value through:<\/p>\n
Furthermore, account aggregation apps are driven by the network effect \u2014 the more integrations they offer, the more valuable they become for new partners and end users.<\/p>\n
Considering that most intermarket competition is happening at an ecosystem level, assuming the role of an aggregator may be a winning move for some companies.
\n\n\t\t\t\t