Finicity Unveils Loan Product To Streamline FI Credit Decisions

Finicity, a financial data provider, is rolling out a new program that will aid financial institutions (FIs) in their decision-making on credit issues. The “open banking” company allows third-party providers access to customers’ personal and financial data, when authorized.

The new “Finicity Lend will make the credit process faster and more efficient for lenders who offer all kinds of loans,” including mortgage, auto, small business and personal, the company said in a news release. Finicity said its technology “is at the forefront of a big-data revolution and the broader adoption of open banking in the U.S.”

Finicity Lend “will provide the foundation for transforming the credit decision-making process,” the company said. The new program will address “the need for more efficiency and accuracy, better risk management, real-time insights, and enhanced credit decision-making,” the release added.

Finicity CEO and co-founder Steve Smith said the new program will “create an industry standard for assessing a borrower’s ability to manage a loan going forward.”

He added that, “The growing impact of the COVID economic crisis and the potential impact on consumer credit confirms an issue that has existed for some time now — a need for a deep evaluation of the credit-review process.”

In June, Mastercard inked a deal to buy Finicity of Salt Lake City, Utah, for $825 million. Mastercard said that Finicity’s technology and its 500 employees worldwide would strengthen its open banking platform.

Open banking allows people and businesses to benefit from their own financial data. This includes determining how and where third parties — such as financial technology companies (FinTechs) — can access that information to provide new services like money-management programs or initiate payments on their behalf.

“Finicity has a proven business, built on partnerships with thousands of banks and FinTechs, similar to us,” said Mastercard President Michael Miebach in a statement at the time. “Finicity also shares our commitment to consumer-centric data practices, ensuring consumers have a say in how and where their information should be used.”