• Apex Fintech Solutions and Plaid have teamed up to streamline account transfers and boost digital capabilities for brokerage firms.
• The partnership combines Plaid’s secure connectivity and data validation with Apex Fintech Solutions’ ACATS infrastructure and risk engine to bring greater efficiency to the fund transfer process.
• Apex Fintech Solutions’ subsidiary Apex Clearing made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2015. Plaid has been a Finovate alum since 2014.

A new partnership between Apex Fintech Solutions and Plaid will enable Apex to offer Plaid’s suite of financial data products to streamline account transfers and help brokerage firms improve their digital capabilities. The partnership combines Plaid’s secure connectivity and data validation with Apex’s ACATS infrastructure and risk engine to reduce the number of errors and delays in the fund transfer process while also boosting efficiency for brokerages and their customers.

ACATS stands for Automated Customer Account Transfer Service, a system managed by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) that automates and standardizes asset transfers from one account to another. Apex’s ACATS infrastructure delivers reliable processing and conformity with ever-changing industry protocols and, together with Plaid’s expertise in financial data connectivity, supports an account transfer experience that is more comprehensive than either company would produce on their own.

“For too long, account transfers have been a source of frustration for investors and a missed opportunity for firms to grow,” Apex Chief Customer Officer Connor Coughlin said. “Plaid brings world-class account connectivity, and we bring proven ACATS infrastructure—together we’re delivering something neither of us could build alone. 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.”

Key capabilities of the integration include automated account linking via Plaid with secure connections that eliminate manual data entry errors and common rejection triggers, and real-time processing and event-driven updates to provide status updates as soon as changes are announced. The integration will also deliver simplified infrastructure that consolidates multiple endpoints into a single API endpoint, unified audit trail interface and operational visibility, and day-one alignment with new protocols, including a fully configured simulator environment to facilitate transfer testing before going live.

“Transferring assets between investment accounts is still far too manual, slow, and error-prone for investors,” Plaid Head of Partnerships Adam Yoxtheimer said. “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. We’re excited about what we can continue to build together.”

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Apex Fintech Solutions enables hundreds of clients to launch, scale, and support digital investing for tens of millions of investors. The company provides infrastructure and an ecosystem of cloud-based solutions to enable and streamline trading, wealth management, tax reporting, and more. The firm serves wealth management firms, full-service broker-dealers, startups, banks and credit unions, cryptocurrency trading platforms, corporate treasury managers, and through its subsidiary Apex Clearing, also offers custody and clearing services.

Apex’s partnership with Plaid comes less than a month after the firm announced that it had forged a new data relationship with real-time financial news and market data provider Benzinga. Apex is making Benzinga APIs available to its network of financial platforms, brokerages, and developers, enabling them to integrate real-time market intelligence structured financial datasets directly into their offerings.

A Finovate alum since 2014, Plaid offers a data network that enables users to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services that help them manage and improve their financial lives. The company’s network covers more than 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe. Plaid’s partnership announcement with Apex is just one of a number of announcements the San Francisco-based company has made in recent weeks. Plaid recently announced an expansion of its Bank Intelligence solution with four new capabilities across two areas: Fraud Insights and Loyalty Insights. The enhanced offering will bring stronger fraud defense to the open finance channel and enable firms to better understand where their customers are in their financial lives.

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