Stripe Beefs Up Automatic Transactions With Financial Connections Launch

In the world of digital payments, the Holy Grail of retail offerings is a true one-stop shop for all things financial. It’s generally agreed that if a single app is able to link all of a customer’s banking and payment details in one convenient package, that customer will never need to look around for another service.

With the announcement of Stripe’s latest offering, Financial Connections, it seems as though that dream might finally become a reality.

“Businesses have been asking us for an easy, secure way to connect to and verify their customers’ bank accounts. Stripe Financial Connections delivers just that,” said Stripe’s Business Lead, Clara Liang. With the tech embedded in Financial Connections, the products in Stripe’s ecosystem will be able to harness all their financial information to verify accounts, underwrite loans, and achieve a wealth of other financial tasks.

Notably, the enhanced automatic transaction functionality, while new for Stripe products, is already present in services offered by rival payment firm and former partner Plaid. In an environment in which the two companies are racing to snap up more of the digital payments market, Stripe’s Financial Connections launch is widely seen as an aggressive attempt to move in on Plaid’s corner of the open banking playing field.