5 Ways Plaid Simplifies International Expansion Between Europe and North America

Brian Dammeir
Head of Europe, Plaid

The European market presents a myriad of opportunities for fintech companies based in North America looking to expand their global footprint. With its diverse population, strong economic performance, and growing demand for digital financial services, Europe is an ideal destination for businesses aiming to broaden their reach. Likewise, the US and Canada opens an incredible total addressable market that European businesses can target.

“Plaid has scaled into new markets across 20 countries to date. It’s our priority to share our learnings and local expertise with our customers also looking to scale globally.” 

- Brian Dammeir, Head of Europe at Plaid

As you plan your transatlantic expansion, Plaid can help you navigate the complexities of a new market with speed and ease. In this blog post, we'll cover five ways Plaid's open banking platform simplifies expanding into Europe or North America.

1. Consistent APIs across North America and Europe

Plaid's APIs maintain consistency across both the US, Canada, the UK and Europe, streamlining the integration process and eliminating the need to allocate additional developer resources for implementation in either market. 

On average, North American customers who launch with Plaid in Europe can save up to $260k in development resources*. Integration timelines can be decreased to under two weeks, compared to twelve** weeks and above with other providers. Simply updating the country codes provides access to thousands of financial institutions in these regions, conserving valuable time and resources that would otherwise be committed to building and maintaining multiple connections.

For example, thanks to Plaid’s APIs, the online marketplace Faire went live in Europe in weeks. Using Plaid, Capital on Tap seamlessly translated its underwriting process from the US into the UK. Similarly, UK lender YouLend used Plaid to bring their offerings to the US and quickly capitalise on a new market. 

“Plaid has been an important part of our growth and international expansion, enabling us to provide a seamless and uniform onboarding experience to businesses applying for financing across the UK, Europe and the US.” 

- Francisco Rubistein, VP of Growth at YouLend

2. Extensive financial institution coverage

Plaid's platform offers extensive coverage, serving customers from every US state, Canada, UK and 17 countries in Europe, and catering to their unique financial needs. With connections to over 12,000 financial institutions, you ensure your services are accessible to a wide range of customers and foster adoption and growth in multiple markets.

Crypto exchange Kraken used Plaid to provide seamless account funding solutions across 6 European countries (in addition to the US).

"With Plaid's support, we developed and enhanced our fiat funding offering for our US customers, ensuring a seamless market expansion. We're continuing to expand into new European countries with Plaid, leveraging their local expertise with confidence in their continued support." 

- Kaushik Sthankiya, Global Head of Banking and Payments at Kraken

3. Regulatory compliance

North America and Europe have widely different regulatory environments, making compliance with local regulations crucial when expanding into either market. Plaid is designed to comply with the strictest regulatory standards, including US data protection, banking regulations, GDPR, and PSD2. By leveraging Plaid's expertise, you can ensure compliance while concentrating on core competencies and delivering exceptional financial services to customers.

"As we expand into new markets, ensuring compliance remains our foremost concern. While we prioritise growth, we adhere to high standards. When guiding our customers into unfamiliar territories, we proceed with integrity, dotting the i's and crossing the t's to adhere to local law requirements. It's not just about their success; it's about keeping the financial world safe and secure." 

- Nicole Pavitt, Lead International Counsel at Plaid

4. Localised support

Navigating the intricacies of different financial ecosystems can be challenging. Plaid's experienced team provides dedicated support to help overcome these challenges and ensure a smooth launch in either Europe or North America by offering invaluable insights and guidance.

“FreshBooks is thrilled to expand our partnership with Plaid, seamlessly extending our coverage from North America to the UK. This collaboration empowers small business owners with stable integrations that simplify their financial management and embody FreshBooks’ goal of making complex processes feel effortless for our customers.” 

- Bernard Chan, Group Product Leader at FreshBooks

5. Scalable infrastructure

As you expand internationally, a reliable and scalable infrastructure becomes essential. Plaid is designed to handle high volumes of requests with consistent performance and availability in both the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. With Plaid's robust infrastructure, you can focus on expanding your customer base and refining your product offerings without concern for downtime.

“At Capital on Tap, we’re excited to extend our partnership with Plaid to our UK market. The seamless integration with Plaid has streamlined our lending process, allowing us to better serve our customers with ease, speed, and unwavering support.” 

- Damian Brychcy, CEO of Capital on Tap

Launching fintech services in new markets has historically been a complex and time-consuming process, but Plaid’s transatlantic bridge simplifies the journey. Take your fintech business to new heights by speaking to our European team today.

*Launch within <2 weeks vs 12+ weeks with competitors. Predicted team development spend can go from $288k to $24k. Sample engineering & PM cost is 12 weeks with 6 headcount at $200k salary. 

**Typical time to launch an open banking integration.