FinTech News
Apex Partnering with Plaid for Easier Brokerage Transfers
Two well-known FinTechs are teaming up to deliver a better brokerage transfer experience.
About the Apex-Plaid Partnership:
This week, Apex FinTech Solutions and Plaid announced a new parnership that will see Apex integrating Plaid products into its offerings. As a result, Apex’s brokerage firm clients will have new capabilities, which will also benefit end-users.
As Apex and Plaid note, by partnering together, they’ll be able to deliver an investment move solution that’s “more comprehensive and reliable” than what either could have provided on its own. Most notably, by combining Plaid’s secure connectivity with Apex’s Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS) systems, the pair will be able to improve the efficiency of these transfers. For example, according to the companies, automated account linking will be possible, removing the need for manual data entry (and helping to limit errors). Other benefits include real-time processing, a simplified infrastructure, and more.
What They’re Saying:
Announcing the new partnership, Apex FinTech Solutions’ Chief Customer Officer Connor Coughlin said, “For too long, account transfers have been a source of frustration for investors and a missed opportunity for firms to grow. Plaid brings world-class account connectivity, and we bring proven ACATS infrastructure—together we’re delivering something neither of us could build alone.”
Coughlin added, “Now firms can offer a transfer experience as modern as the rest of their platform—and focus on building relationships with investors instead of chasing down paperwork.”
Additionally, Plaid’s Head of Partnerships Adam Yoxtheimer explained, “Transferring assets between investment accounts is still far too manual, slow and error-prone for investors. By integrating Plaid’s Investments Move with Apex’s clearing infrastructure, we’re delivering a first-of-a-kind end-to-end ACATS solution. The solution can deliver a better transfer experience that gets investors’ assets into their new accounts faster with reduced error rates.”
My Thoughts:
Apex and Plaid are two of the most-used FinTech platforms already. So bringing the two together in partnership makes a ton of sense.
From a consumer perspective, I’m curious to see if more efficient ACATS transfers could lead to great competition between brokerages. We’ve already seen this to some degree as platforms such as Robinhood and SoFi have offered bonuses, matching a certain percentage of transferred assets. I could certainly see these efforts increasing as a result of these latest capabilities. On the other side, though, brokerages could increase outgoing fees to prevent churn.
Regardless of how brokerages ultimately implement these new capabilities, I expect big things from Apex and Plaid’s partnership going forward.