Financial apps created and owned by financial technology firms, or fintechs, function by linking their apps to the financial institutions where customers have accounts. Customers using financial apps typically have to provide the fintech firm with their secure online banking log-in credentials (username and password). For financial apps to perform as intended, fintechs must be connected digitally to the banks and financial institutions where app customers have accounts.
Making digital connections with the myriad of banks and financial institutions used by customers is a large and costly prospect, and fintechs manage this process by contracting with data aggregators – behind the scenes technology companies that serve as a link between customers' financial apps and their bank accounts.
What many financial app users do not realize, as outlined in a recent research study conducted by The Clearing House, is once they provide their secure online banking log-in credentials to a financial app, data aggregators use this information to log into customer bank accounts.
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