Connection routes

A route is how a connection reaches a bank. The person connecting sees the route before they approve anything.

Link Direct

Link Direct connects through the bank’s own production APIs, the ones its app and online banking use. It runs on the same infrastructure. Link examines how those systems work; it doesn’t scrape web pages.

• Sign-in: within Link’s flow, using the same sign-in the person uses for their bank online. Where the bank offers open banking or a partnership exists, the person signs in on the bank’s own page instead.
• Coverage: any institution that offers online access, through an app or online banking. Institutions are switched on as people request them.
• Agreements: Link Direct doesn’t depend on a bank partnership. A Link Direct connection doesn’t imply the bank has partnered with Link or endorsed it.
• Maintenance: when a bank updates its app or online banking, Link updates its integration to match.

Open banking and partnerships

Where a bank offers regulated open-banking access, or has agreed terms directly with Link, connections can use those interfaces. Link pursues both in parallel with Link Direct.

In the UK and EEA, bank accounts connect through open banking. Link is registering to provide this itself; until then, these connections run through GoCardless Bank Account Data.

Third-party providers

Link can route a connection through Plaid, Stripe Financial Connections, Teller or GoCardless Bank Account Data, wherever the provider covers the bank. Each provider uses its own sign-in flow and handles credentials under its own policies. Switching a connection to a different route means the person approves access again. Nothing moves silently.

Link aggregates and standardizes these providers; it doesn’t resell them. Developers outside Maxint use their own agreement with each provider they want to offer. Link connects with the developer’s provider credentials and returns the data in one consistent format.

See Providers for coverage.