Europe is a diverse market. Each country has unique banking systems, authentication methods, and data formats. If you’re already in Europe or looking to expand, it’s a significant challenge to manage. Here’s how Plaid support businesses expanding into new markets in Europe:
1. Navigating Multiple Markets with a Unified Approach
Plaid operates in 18 European markets, and 20 globally. A unified API can provide a simplified solution, offering broad access while reducing the need for region-specific development efforts. Whether you’re launching for the first time or expanding from the UK or North America, you don’t have to worry about piecing together regional solutions.
Plaid connects directly to over 95% of banks across 18 European markets, all through direct, dedicated bank connections, never screen scraping.
2. Personalised User Experiences
Consent Taken Care of:
As part of PSD2 regulation, different products will require different scopes of access to be granted by the end user. This makes the consent pane important to ensure users have full visibility and control of what data they are sharing, and may differ between different products. Plaid takes care of this for users, automatically updating the consent based on the products you are using.
Customisable Branding: Tailored interfaces with your logos, colours, and bank preferences to enhance the user experience while maintaining brand consistency.
Optimised Bank Selection: With thousands of banks across Europe, Plaid automatically ranks and filters banks based on user relevance and product support which can significantly reduce user friction - even gracefully handling the hundreds of German bank branches!
Language Localisation
Plaid supports 17 languages—such as German, Romanian, or Polish—creating a more inclusive experience for your users, creating trust and increasing engagement.
3. Simplifying Bank Authentication
Bank authentication methods in Europe vary widely. Some banks require additional information, like IBANs in Germany, which can cause user drop-off or make it very difficult to manage the different types of inputs in an optimised way. Plaid handles these processes helping reduce friction and maintain smooth user interactions, while reducing the implementation burden.
We’ve built support for every authentication method, including:
Redirects: Users are directed to their bank's app or login portal.
Decoupled: A separate device or app is used for authentication.
Embedded: Credentials are directly input by users and passed to the bank.
Each method has pros and cons. Plaid monitors what works best for each bank and optimises for conversion automatically.
4. A Single Data Structure
European banks often differ in how they structure account and transaction data. Without standardisation, managing this data can become overwhelming. Consolidated APIs that provide consistent data fields enable businesses to perform tasks like account verification, credit underwriting, and customer monitoring more efficiently.
Two different categorisation taxonomies—such as personal finance and credit—further simplify the process, making data interpretation and application straightforward.
5. Local Payments Without the Hassle
Europe’s payment infrastructure is diverse, ranging from Faster Payments in the UK to SEPA in the EU, and Elixir in Poland. This patchwork can be daunting, but Plaid’s tools support multiple payment rails and currencies to offer a way to simplify the process.
Plaid allows customers to choose between instant and standard transfers which can enhance their experience by aligning with their cost and speed preferences.With the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), users can now send and receive euro payments within seconds, 24/7, across the EU, without additional fees through SEPA Instant.
Learn more about Plaid in Europe