Plum already supports most major banks and has 130,000 registered users in the UK since launching last year.

Plum connects to UK current accounts and monitors spending patterns, setting aside an amount of money that can be safely saved every few days. Users can also analyse their spending using the Insights features or choose to invest in one of seven options tailored around industry themes such as Ethical investments.

Plum is the first chatbot of its kind to make use of Open Banking to integrate challengers after increasing demand from users, beating competition to the post in what has become a challenger bank space race. Using TrueLayer, users avoid sharing their login details by logging in with the actual provider (Monzo/Starling) and then authorising another party (TrueLayer) to access their data. This allows Plum to request access to account data held by Monzo or Starling, simply, safely and securely via an API, without ever learning the user’s login information. Account information will only be accessible when a customer chooses to use a new product and actively agrees to share their information. Access is read-only so cannot be used to make changes and the data passed is end-to-end encrypted.

Plum continues to make use of Open Banking for the benefit of users beyond linking bank accounts, having launched several Fee Fighting tools which allow users to clearly identify hidden bank fees. Last month, Plum partnered with TransferWise and complaints tool Resolver to create fightoverseasfees.org. For the first time, consumers can easily calculate how much they've been overcharged in hidden foreign currency fees when spending abroad. If they've been ripped off, users have a guided process to complain to the financial ombudsman and try to reclaim what they’re owed, in an attempt to bring greater transparency to financial services.

Comment from Plum
“Adding Monzo and Starling to our ever-growing list of supported banks is a key step in achieving our mission to make everyone better off. We have seen demand for challenger banks increasing significantly since we launched and are thrilled to see that these banks are gaining momentum. Our partnership with Truelayer has allowed us to move quickly and the user experience to be seamless and secure. This is a perfect example of how Open Banking is benefiting the financial sector and its users.” - Victor Trokoudes, CEO and co-Founder of Plum.”

Comment from Truelayer
“We’re delighted to be able to help Plum expand its offering to Monzo and Starling Bank’s fast-growing customer bases. Every week brings an exciting new application of Open Banking. This is a testament to how the initiative should work - a disruptive new technology can quickly and securely become available to a bank’s customers. This is good for the startup, good for the bank and, most of all, good for consumers.” - Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and co-Founder of TrueLayer.

Comment from Starling
“At Starling, we want our customers to have choice amongst financial products and to be able to easily access products and services from across the market, and our open API makes that possible. We're excited for our customers to now be able to securely connect their Starling account with Plum. - Megan Caywood, Chief Platform Officer, Starling Bank.

Comment from Monzo
“It's great to see even more choice for consumers in accessing their money and Plum integrating Monzo securely through TrueLayer shows a glimpse of the exciting potential of open APIs and Open Banking in general.” — Tristan Thomas, Head of Marketing and Community.