Finovate Blog

Clients of TD Bank’s TD Direct Investing will have new tools to build their own financial plans and portfolios – thanks to a newly-announced collaboration between the Canadian bank and fintech innovator Hydrogen. The two companies have entered into a licensing agreement that will integrate Hydrogen’s APIs into TD Bank’s WebBroker platform as the first phase of the partnership.

“This is the first of several significant building blocks that will deliver a fully integrated, digital investing experience for TD clients,” Tony Ierullo, VP of Wealth Digital Innovation for TD Bank Group, said. “While our initial focus is on improving the self-directed investor experience, our ultimate goal is to bring best-in-class digital investing solutions to all TD clients, at every stage of their financial journey.” The agreement marks the first instance a Canadian bank has provided customers with the technology to build financial plans and investment portfolios on their own, all of which are integrated into the customer’s online brokerage account.

“Hydrogen has built an interconnected global platform designed to provide access to some of the best financial infrastructure and products currently on the market,” President and CEO of Hydrogen Michael Kane said. “Our agreement with TD is testament to the power of embedding innovative digital solutions into established investment services.”

Additional resources are planned for the platform, including the creation of a direct access digital advisor. Once additional phases of the rollout are underway, clients will have access to a fully-integrated, end-to-end digital investing platform for both self-service and “advice-led” investing – as well as those who want a mix of both.

“Almost every industry has been disrupted due to the pervasiveness of technology and shifting customer preferences,” Kane said, “and the Wealth industry is no exception.”

Hydrogen demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2018, building a European savings solution – including UI/UX, onboarding, backend connectivity, and business intelligence – live on stage in five minutes. The firm’s APIs enable companies to save tens of millions on building and running a variety of financial services apps. The company is also the maker of the Hydro blockchain, the public ledger for financial services, and Ion AI, a machine learning technology for financial apps.

Last month, the company launched the FINDI Consortium to “facilitate a more open, transparent, and decentralized global financial system” powered by public blockchains. In July, Hydrogen introduced the Hydro mobile app, a security and identity management solution that leverages the public blockchain. Winner of the grand prize at the Luxembourg Fintech Awards this summer, the self-described “Stripe for fintech” was founded in 2017 and is based in New York City.