Looking for Plaid Alternative in Indonesia? Read Here!

What is an alternative to Plaid? Plaid is a financial data API connecting users' accounts to financial websites and apps. The platform supports over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, the UK, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, and Germany.

first appeared in 2012. Subsequently, Plaid became the cornerstone and building piece of every modern fintech startup, including Venmo, Chime, and Robinhood. They provide tools to help developers create a user-friendly and accessible transfer experience. Today, hundreds of millions of users in North America have successfully linked their banking institutions to apps by utilizing Plaid.

However, Plaid's apps and services are currently limited to North America and a few European countries. Developers across Asia, including Indonesia, are currently unable to use it. Is there, perhaps, a viable alternative to Plaid?

What is Plaid?

Plaid is more than just a third-party application connecting customers' bank accounts to financial apps (or web). The platform indeed supports over 12,000 financial institutions, but Plaid is also a home for more than 5,000 financial services. Popular fintech aggregator like Chime and Acrons also use Plaid API as their building blocks.

How does Plaid work?

For the end-user service, Plaid is quite simple. It acts as a "bridge", connecting the user's bank account and financial applications.

Financial institutions can access some of the user's financial information. For example, a portfolio aggregator might need access to your record, while a budgeting app might need access to your bank activities. Using Plaid, these sites will get users' data without bank login details.

Can you find the best Plaid alternative in Indonesia?

As previously mentioned, Plaid's service is currently confined to North America and a few European countries. Plaid is still unavailable throughout Asia, including Indonesia. So is there any best alternative for Plaid in Indonesia?

Indonesia's economy is blooming right now. The government intends to invest up to $500 billion in financial infrastructure over the next five years (2027). In addition, Indonesia's fintech industry is quickly expanding. The financial services market, which includes lending, credit cards, and payments, is experiencing rapid development. In this fertile land for fintech, you can quickly locate various financial services, including Plaid-like ones.

Here comes Ayoconnect. Ayoconnect is a fintech company that creates Indonesia's largest Open Finance platform. They also develop API-based solutions for enterprises. With Ayoconnect infrastructure, they can connect with other financial services and institutions.

What is open finance?

Basically, Open Finance is a system that uses API technology to create interconnectivity between financial service providers and other service providers. Open Finance was designed to assist businesses in providing various financial services more swiftly and efficiently.

Ayoconnect's Open API

API (Application Programming Interface) is a computing technology that offers a platform that powers electronic payments and connects different software programs or software and hardware. The Ayoconnect's Open API network contains a set of functions, protocols, and commands that a programmer can use to create a stable and rapid system interconnection. Ayoconnect's Open API platform allows service providers to collaborate and innovate to develop solutions that benefit businesses and consumers. This is definitely an equivalent to the Plaid alternative—or maybe more.

Ayoconnect's Digital Products API

In addition to providing infrastructure that allows developers to build networks between banks and financial applications, Ayoconnect also offers several digital products. This service opens access to various digital products such as credit, data packages, electricity tokens, data aggregation platforms, water bills, e-money top-ups, game and streaming vouchers, credit card payments, and multi-finance loans.

Ayoconnect's Digital Products API solution helps online and offline consumer platforms build credit product sales services, reload data packages, PLN token payments, internet, and cable TV bill payments, e-wallet top-ups, and sales of game vouchers and other digital products more efficiently and fast. Building online and offline bill payment features will help maximize business profits while increasing customer loyalty.

For e-commerce and mobile apps, this API would help developers build an online bill payment feature. So customers can make bill payments, starting from top-up data packages and electricity tokens, to purchasing game vouchers anytime and anywhere through mobile applications or online sites.

As for offline consumer platforms such as PPOB agent networks, supermarkets, and minimarkets, offline bill payment services will undoubtedly make it easier for customers who do not have access to bank accounts or online platforms to make bill payments using cash or e-wallet balances.

Ayoconnect, Southeast Asia's largest open finance platform

Ayoconnect has grown to become the largest open finance platform in Southeast Asia, thanks to its easy-to-use and comprehensive services.

In January 2022, Ayoconnect closed a $15 million series B fundraising deal sponsored by Tiger Global., PayU, Prosus' payments and FinTech business, Alto Partners, and individual strategic investors such as Plaid co-founder William Hockey and Jerry Ng, President Commissioner of Bank Jago, also participated in the round.

The funds will be used to expand the company's capacity and continue to produce new items to meet rising demand. Ayoconnect is set to launch Indonesia's first direct debit service in the first half of 2022. This API will transform financial services for Indonesian consumers and providers by automating recurring payments straight from clients' bank accounts. In the near future, Ayoconnect is preparing to launch its regional expansion, with plans to provide clients cards-as-a-service.

Plaid is a popular platform in North America, and it has also recently gained popularity in several European countries. However, there has been no indication that Plaid will extend its service to Asia, including Indonesia. Nonetheless, there are several Plaid substitutions available. Because the development of fintech is accelerating, particularly in Indonesia, it will not be difficult to discover a viable substitution for Plaid.

You can use Ayoconnect as an alternative to Plaid. Ayoconnect is a financial technology company firm that develops Indonesia's largest Open Finance platform. They're also working on API-based solutions for businesses so can helps financial institutions, fintechs and other businesses to use their data more effectively. After scoring a $15 million series B fundraising deal sponsored by Tiger Global in January 2022, Ayoconnect is preparing to launch several new services, including cards-as-a-service. Explore more about Ayoconnect here!

‍