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The momentum behind open banking has received another boost. Open-banking provider MX Technologies Inc. is partnering with upSWOT Inc. to enable small-to-medium-size businesses to connect their bank accounts to import transaction and account information to dashboards that allow them to view the overall health of their businesses. The dashboards offer small and medium businesses the ability to quickly identify key performance indicators, such as sales trends, cash flow, and forecasts, to improve financial management and help them build their businesses.
Open-banking connections allow payments providers and other financial-services players to verify the ownership of checking and other financial accounts, as well as the level of funding in those accounts. The fast-developing technology has attracted a wide range of fintechs and other non-banks looking to facilitate payments.
The combination of MX’s financial-data platform and information from more than 150 business applications connected through upSWOT will enable financial institutions to provide their business customers with a robust online financial-management experience, the companies say.
“Many [small and medium-size businesses], including gig workers, often use their personal accounts for their business transactions. This makes it confusing when it comes to accounting and expense management,” Don Parker, executive vice president of partnerships for MX, says by email. “Greater options, clarity, and data definition from MX’s categorizations designed for SMBs enables the business owner to identify true business drivers and impacts through the analytical tools that upSWOT offers.”
MX’s data platform uses machine learning to enhance transaction data and provides SMBs access to more than 180 business-specific categories. The object is to let SMBs gain a clearer definition for business-related transactions.
UpSWOT has more than 150 live connections to software-as-a-service products commonly used by SMBs, such as accounting, customer-relationship management, payroll, and payment applications. Combining those different data sources allows SMBs to use dashboards to aide in managing their business.
“MX is laser-focused on promoting open banking by enabling consumers to access their own financial data seamlessly and securely,” Parker says. “Our partnership with upSWOT extends that ability to SMB owners by combining their banking and business applications data to better drive financial management and help them build their businesses.”
