The North American agreement signifies alignment between TD and Intuit about protocols to be followed by Intuit when accessing financial data of a TD customer to support the customer's request to use financial services supported by Intuit. At the customer's request, TD will transfer the customer's financial data to Intuit through a technology known as Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that may eventually eliminate the need for customers to share their banking login ID or password in order to access third-party financial products and services.

Protecting Consumer Data

Consumers who currently use financial products and services provided by some Fintechs are having to share their banking credentials to be able to access these products and services. An API-based approach will help simplify the process for customers who want to use third-party financial management apps.

"We expect that customer enthusiasm for digital banking services will continue to grow as customers look for new ways to bank that meet their unique personal financial needs," says Rizwan Khalfan, Chief Digital and Payments Officer, TD. "We want to be there for our customers and we have accelerated our work to leverage a market-developed technology solution to help increase the comfort level of customers looking to access digital services that are outside their bank."

Consumer-Directed Finance and Open Banking

The agreement with Intuit is part of TD's response to customers' need to leverage data stored with financial institutions for digital services. Both Intuit and TD are founding members of the Financial Data Exchange (FDX), a US-based industry consortium that promotes solutions to better protect customer data, supports an API-based technology protocol and that recently launched in Canada with the support of leading Canadian banks and financial technology companies. TD also recently invested in Akoya, a new, US-based company that will operate an API-based network for a more secure way of sharing financial data. In Canada, TD has been involved in government consultations to move Consumer-Directed Finance forward, while helping to protect consumer interests.

"As a fellow founding partner of FDX, we are focused on providing the best financial solutions for consumers and businesses to help them meet their unique needs," says Rajneesh Gupta, VP, Financial Institutions, Intuit. "We are happy to work with TD who shares that common interest with us, and we support their efforts to implement an API-based technology infrastructure to help give their customers more control over their financial data."