How everyone can use financial data to build better services

6 min read|Published November 13, 2019

This is the first piece in our series, where we’ll tell you all you need to know to start using Tink’s platform. We’ll describe our full toolkit, share success stories, and show you how to quickly get started – so you can use financial data to build world-changing services too.

Our core mission is to empower everyone and anyone to seize the massive opportunity that is open banking. We do this by providing instant access to the financial data from 2,500 banks across Europe – and the smart services that make sense of the data. It means that any business or developer can build and launch a next-gen service that will change the way people see their finances.

Open banking is giving people ownership of their financial data for the first time – and bringing major disruption to the financial services industry. But this wealth of data is only valuable if it’s used in the right way – with the right tools.

We built the Tink platform to be a launchpad – one that lets you use the financial data to deliver far better customer experiences than what exists today. What these services are is not for us to decide; our mission is to fast-track your ideas.

And save you a few hundred developer hours.

A toolkit for services only you can imagine

At the heart of our open banking platform is the Tink API. It connects you to more than 2,500 banks – and helps you reach 250 million consumers (with their consent, of course).

Then there’s the Tink Console, an admin interface that contains the code and resources you need to build data-driven services – and stay up-to-date on new features on the platform.

And finally the Tink Link SDK, a drop-in component that allows your users to quickly connect and authenticate with their bank – no matter what market they’re in.

Hosted on AWS, this full-stack offering – our API, Console and SDK – allows any developer, business or bank to enrich and expose the data. And use it to create tangible and valuable services.

You can test and build a service, and go live in a matter of hours. Configure the tech to fit your needs. And scale your service internationally – we are currently live in 10 markets across Europe, and by next year that number will be 20.

All it takes is an idea or a problem that needs solving. Once you have that there are virtually unlimited opportunities to build with the data.

Here’s what companies are building

Using our tools, hundreds of partners are already building exciting new services.

Take Njorda for example. They provide a service that allows personal investors to view all their investments in one place – regardless of the financial institution – and understand how they can pay less fees and optimise risk levels by adjusting their portfolio.

Or Ebbel, a service that helps people compare and pick the best credit card offerings. After integrating with Tink (in one week), the startup gained a better overview of customers’ finances – allowing it to offer more personalised credit card recommendations.

They are defining a completely new user experience and using their expertise to innovate in their domain. We’re just helping along by providing the inspiration and resources so you can build and run your service. And so you can deliver a valuable experience in return for customers’ permission to use their data.

Building big customer benefits

This opportunity – to usher in a brave new world of banking – matters a lot to us because it can change the industry, and transform the services that make a person’s life better, easier and more seamless.

Businesses everywhere are proving that using financial data can help consumers seamlessly manage their everyday finances, make better financial decisions or invest their savings. Outside of banking, we are seeing pioneers like Svalna– another Console user – leveraging financial data to calculate a person’s carbon footprint.

The Svalna app

We can’t even imagine all that will be possible a few years from now.

Here’s what you’ll learn to do

We want to help you get the most out of these tools – either to improve an existing service using financial data or build one from scratch. In our Build with Tink series, we will show you how to get started with prototyping, testing, launching and tracking the success of your app.

Here are some highlights of what’s to come:

Build and launch data-driven financial services – quickly and without commitment
Understand how to navigate and deploy services through Tink Console and Tink Link SDK
See examples of how other companies have launched services using Tink Console
Learn how our SDK can fast-track your customer authentication flow
Find the resources you need to independently start building open banking-powered customer experiences – across 10 markets