Alkami expands Plaid tie-up for linked banking data

Alkami has expanded its partnership with Plaid by embedding Plaid's services into the Alkami Digital Banking Platform. The integration is now live for banks and credit unions that use Alkami.

The move gives those institutions direct access to account linking, transaction aggregation and merchant data enrichment within their existing digital banking setup, without a separate Plaid implementation. The pre-built connection is intended to eliminate custom development and separate vendor management.

Banks and credit unions can use the integration to let customers link external accounts for transfers and bill payments, while also receiving identity data on linked accounts. The companies said this should help institutions verify accounts more quickly and reduce fraud risk.

The partnership also covers transaction consolidation. External account data can be pulled into a single view within digital banking, allowing account holders to see finances held across multiple institutions in one place.

Alkami and Plaid said the arrangement responds to a broader industry push for connected banking services, as lenders and mutuals try to keep customers engaged within their own apps rather than sending them to third-party tools for a fuller view of their finances.

The integration also includes data enrichment. Merchant descriptions and transaction categories can be standardised and cleaned up, which may reduce disputes and give account holders clearer information about where money is being spent.

In comments released with the announcement, Alkami framed the deal as part of a broader effort by financial institutions to improve digital services.

"For financial institutions, delivering exceptional digital experiences increasingly depends on providing account holders with a complete, connected view of their financial lives," said Josh Winstead, Vice President of Corporate Development at Alkami.

"This next phase of our partnership with Plaid reflects a shared commitment to making it easier for banks and credit unions to deliver connected experiences through a unified digital sales and service platform," Winstead said.

Coverage and Conversion

The companies cited recent performance figures from Plaid's onboarding flow to support the tie-up. They said Plaid converted 23% better than competing options in recent testing, while more than 95% of accounts were eligible for instant authentication.

They also said monthly disconnection rates were below 1%. For banks and credit unions, that matters because broken data connections can undermine personal financial management tools and erode trust in digital banking services.

Plaid's transaction categorisation was also described as more accurate than that of legacy aggregators. Better categorisation can improve budgeting tools, alerts and spending insights shown to customers in banking apps.

Competitive Pressure

The announcement reflects mounting pressure on financial institutions to offer digital experiences that match specialist fintech products. Account aggregation and account verification have become standard features in many consumer finance apps, and banks have increasingly tried to bring those functions into their own channels.

For Alkami, which sells digital banking software to US financial institutions, the deeper tie-up with Plaid adds another embedded service to its platform as providers compete to become the central operating layer for customer-facing banking tools.

For Plaid, the arrangement expands its reach through a banking technology partner rather than relying solely on individual integrations at each institution. That model may also appeal to smaller banks and credit unions that lack the internal technical resources to manage multiple data providers.

Plaid also used the announcement to highlight pressure on banks to improve digital banking journeys.

"Financial institutions are under increasing pressure to deliver connected, intuitive digital banking experiences," said Adam Yoxtheimer, Head of Partnerships at Plaid.

"By expanding our partnership with Alkami, we're bringing Plaid's trusted connectivity and financial data capabilities directly into the Alkami Digital Banking Platform, helping financial institutions deliver a more complete financial experience that deepens engagement and strengthens account holder relationships," Yoxtheimer said.