Welcome

With Plaid’s Developer Docs for an FDX-aligned API, we’ve taken the guesswork out of building to the FDX standard. With our simplified spec, your organization will know exactly which fields are needed to power connectivity to the Plaid Network in alignment with FDX. With our implementation guide, you’ll enable your customers to seamlessly connect their accounts to the thousands of applications within the Plaid network (the largest of any aggregator), including payment services, budgeting apps, and more. Plaid’s open finance solutions are completely free for data providers and makes it easier for you to comply with the key aspects of open banking regulation. It includes three parts:

1. Core Exchange: Offers an easier way to implement an FDX-aligned API in a matter of weeks, with these docs, developer tooling in our data partner dashboard, and dedicated support from our expert team.

Once your API is in place, we have additional solutions to give you visibility into consumer and app-level connections as well as comply more easily with 1033 standards.

2. Permissions Manager: Gives data providers the tools to gain visibility into the authorization details for connections their customers have made via Plaid, build a consent portal that enables customers to manage their connections, and receive real-time alerts. Available via no-code dashboard as well as APIs and webhooks.

3. App Directory: Gives data providers insights about the thousands of apps on Plaid’s network that their customers have connected to, including categories and number of connections. FDX-aligned and available via no-code dashboard as well as APIs.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized its Section 1033 rule on October 22, 2024. This rule has formalized the requirement for certain providers of financial services to provide a developer interface (an API) to allow their customers to access and share their financial data. Learn more about the Dodd-Frank Section 1033 rule and key considerations for financial services providers going forward in this article.

Building your FDX-aligned API with Plaid will help prepare your organization to comply with upcoming regulatory requirements. For more information on preparing your open banking API strategy, please reach out to us here.

This documentation contains all the information you need to build your own FDX-aligned API. It includes:

• A checklist of all the steps that must be completed during each stage of development
• A visual walkthrough of the experience your customers will have once Plaid is fully integrated to your FDX-aligned API
• An in-depth explanation of the OpenID Connect-compliant authentication process
• Example requests you can send to our mock server to get familiar with FDX data payloads
• An API reference with sample requests, responses, and required fields for all our FDX-aligned spec endpoints

Please reach out to the Plaid team for implementation questions not addressed in this documentation.

When you build your API with Plaid, your customers will gain access to Plaid's extensive network of financial apps, the largest of any aggregator. You will also benefit from having an API that is interoperable with other organizations that comply with Financial Data Exchange (FDX) API standards.

Once your your API has been successfully validated by Plaid, your organization will appear in Plaid Link's list of available financial institutions. See the Plaid Link Demo for a visual walkthrough of your customer’s experience.

Plaid’s spec is a subset of the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) API standard. FDX is the common standard for financial data networks (including the Plaid network). This means that when you build an FDX-aligned API with Plaid, you will be able to connect it to Plaid’s extensive ecosystem of fintech apps as well as to other financial data aggregators and organizations.

Plaid’s free open finance solution allows you to streamline and validate your API implementation.

With one dedicated engineer in your organization, building an FDX-aligned API with Plaid can typically be completed in six to eight weeks from the date all approvals and resources are in place for your organization. This estimated timeline covers the time period for building, testing, and deployment. It doesn't cover your institution's internal review and approval process, migrating existing integrations, or other considerations included in this document.

At a high level, the Plaid network sends your API secure requests for account balance and transaction information.

Plaid uses your OpenID Connect security flow to allow your customers to connect their financial accounts to their other financial applications.

The first time one of your customers connects their account to the Plaid network, Plaid will send a request for a transaction history period of two years. Afterward, Plaid will send periodic requests for a transaction history period of 14 days. Plaid will also periodically request other account information, including current balances, available balances, liabilities, and statements.

The most common accounts are:

• Deposit accounts
• Investment accounts
• Loan accounts (most commonly STUDENTLOAN and MORTGAGE)
• Line of credit accounts (most commonly CREDITCARD)

Plaid has established security and privacy processes to help keep your customer's data secure. See the Plaid Security Portal for more information.