PNC Bank (NYSE: PNC) and Akoya LLC have announced the banking institution’s integration with the Akoya Data Access Network.
Over 9 million PNC clients are now enabled to “securely share their financial data with Fintechs and data aggregators with enhanced security through the application programming interface (API)-based network,” according to a release shared with Crowdfund Insider.
“PNC takes very seriously our responsibility to protect the financial and account information that our customers entrust to us,” stated PNC Chairperson, President and CEO William S. Demchak.
William added:
“Many customers assume it is safe to provide their sensitive information to the financial app of their choice. However, we know this information has been used for unauthorized access to customer accounts. That is why we have been taking interim steps to provide accessibility and security – and with today’s announcement, we are providing a permanent solution for striking the right balance between customer choice and data protection.”
Through Akoya, PNC clients may offer permission to share account details with various financial applications without having to provide their sensitive login information, like usernames or passwords.
PNC customers will also be able to “easily monitor and revoke access to fintechs and data aggregators connected through the Akoya Data Access Network,” the announcement noted.
“By teaming up with Akoya, we are fulfilling our vision of wide-scale API adoption for financial data aggregation and giving our customers increased protection, transparency and control over their financial information,” added Natalie Talpas, SVP, Group Manager, Digital at PNC.
Natalie also mentioned:
“It is imperative that financial institutions, fintechs and data aggregators of all sizes work together to create a safer path for consumers to share their financial data and move away from less secure data-sharing methods.”
Akoya was specifically developed to transition financial services to API-powered data access, which enhances data-sharing reliability and “reduces cybersecurity, privacy and financial risks compared to credential-based data aggregation, commonly known as screen scraping.”
All data accessed and shared via the Akoya Data Access Network is “never copied or stored by Akoya – further safeguarding consumer privacy – and is accessed via the Financial Data Exchange API standard,” the announcement explained.
“Today, we are announcing more than just an agreement – PNC is in production and available to fintechs and data aggregators who are on our network,” stated Stuart Rubinstein, CEO at Akoya.
Stuart further noted:
“We have worked tirelessly to streamline our integration process so that data providers can onboard and provide an API-based alternative for financial data aggregation as quickly as possible.”
It’s worth noting that PNC was one of 12 North American financial institutions “to invest in Akoya in February 2020.”
As mentioned in a release, Akoya is “changing the way consumer financial data is accessed and shared.”
Through a single integration on to the Akoya Data Access Network, data aggregators and Fintech companies are able to “directly connect with financial institutions to securely obtain consumer-permissioned financial data through APIs.”
Akoya manages these relationships and “serves as an interoperable solution that is available to the entire financial services industry.”
As noted in the update, PNC Bank, National Association, is “a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC).”
PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the US, “organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management.”