Digital Banking Company Q2 Joins Forces With Plaid to Bolster Banking Capabilities

Q2 Holdings Inc., a cloud-based provider of digital banking solutions, is collaborating with financial services company Plaid to improve the digital banking experience at small banks and credit unions, Plaid announced in its Tuesday (Sept. 21) blog post.

As part of the joint effort, Q2 will integrate into the Plaid Exchange platform, providing Q2’s 500 customers with “zero-lift” access to the Plaid network, according to the blog post. The no-cost integration provides account holders with secure, reliable, API-powered access to the 5,500+ Plaid apps. The partnership will benefit millions of account holders of financial institutions on the Q2 platform, the company said.

In addition to the integration, the partnership will provide Q2’s FI customers with access to the tools necessary to create digital experiences appealing to modern bank customers, such as Plaid’s Auth and Identity APIs for quick and easy digital account funding. New customers can connect their current bank accounts during the account opening process to transfer money in real time.

The impetus for the Q2 and Plaid partnership stems from the fact that close to one-quarter of accounts connected through Plaid are held at credit unions or small community banks, according to the blog.

Tuesday’s announcement comes on the heels of last week’s PYMNTS report that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is partnering with Plaid for instant authentication of bank account information using ACH tokenization to provide secure payments. SVB is the first bank to provide ACH account token integration with Plaid, according to PYMNTS.

See more: Silicon Valley Bank Teams With Plaid for ACH Tokenization

In addition to those collaborative efforts, Plaid announced this spring that it was collaborating with U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the U.S., in an open finance partnership. The collaboration will allow the bank’s millions of customers to manage their accounts and connect to Plaid’s apps and services, according to PYMNTS.