Mastercard FinTech company Finicity on Thursday (Aug. 26) announced an expansion of its one-touch mortgage verification service, which will now be integrated into ICE Mortgage Technology, per a press release. The software integration allows borrowers to grant authorization seamlessly to ensure that lenders can obtain timely verification of assets, income and employment.
ICE Mortgage Technology is a component of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure, the release stated.
The joint effort aims to dramatically cut down on turnaround time and enhancing the borrower experience. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae can both accept the digital verification.
“Our goals are to reduce risk for lenders, create an overall improved consumer experience, and ultimately simplify the mortgage process for everyone by helping borrowers prove their creditworthiness in a more robust, yet streamlined way,” said Steve Smith, Mastercard’s head of global open banking.
Thursday’s announcement comes on the heels of Finicity’s recent data access agreement signed with digital banking platform Green Dot. As part of that joint undertaking, Finicity’s direct API will be offered via Green Dot’s digital bank GO2bank, and will allow customers to connect their accounts to third-party apps in Finicity’s secure data network.
Finicity, as an open banking platform that strives to help households and businesses make sound financial decisions through data access, has already finalized agreements with some of the largest financial institutions, credit card companies and wealth management companies.
Read more: Mastercard’s Finicity Teams With Green Dot To Advance Data Access
Open banking is becoming more popular as even traditional banks get behind the notion of more easily sharing consumers’ financial data. According to PYMNTS, a majority of consumers polled said they would sign up for open banking accounts, especially with tech giants like Amazon and Google.
Part of the shift to open banking is being put forth by the Biden administration, which issued an executive order outlining suggestions that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should issue rules related to data access.
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