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Email this5:27 pm
April 21, 2022
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Wealthsimple has a new internal system for linking external bank accounts. It does not use Flinks or Plaid, just tried it and it's quite slick. The experience is similar to the aforementioned in that you need to login to your external account. Perhaps this is something that will eventually become the norm.
7:34 pm
August 4, 2010
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How did you get to this linking, do you have a screenshot or describe the path to it? What institution did you link to? I just checked both the iPhone app and the website, and adding external accounts goes through Flinks for BMO.
I'd be very surprised if there was any connection method that required you to use your login credentials that wasn't Flinks or Plaid. WS and others have no interest in dealing with user bank account credentials, much less implementing all the account scraping necessary, and will leave it to the specialized services.
If you were using the website, check at the bottom of the screen for a disclaimer about this using Flinks (or Plaid). On the app, Flinks wording is much more in your face.
The manual option of entering the transit info and uploading a statement still seems to be available.
1:03 am
April 21, 2022
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It seems to be select banks, so far it's Scotiabank, Tangerine and EQ, there may be more. We'll call it a work in progress.
9:14 am
April 6, 2013
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There is another alternative out there, besides Flinks and Plaid: Interac verification service (formerly SecureKey Verified.Me). Not sure if Wealthsimple is starting to use that.
With Interac verification service, one does not hand over account password to a third party like one does with Flinks and Plaid. Instead, one signs into one's online banking oneself to trigger sharing of info (like name, address, date of birth, and account numbers) from the bank to the third party. Third party trusts the info because it is received through a secure channel from the bank and not uploaded (and potentially edited) by the client.
3:32 pm
August 4, 2010
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When I choose "Desjardins" from either the web or iPhone app, it has a username/password entry box, with the WS + Desjardins logo at the top, no mention of Flinks/Plaid, and "By entering your credentials, you authorize Wealthsiple to retrieve you account balances and holdings. Your credentials will never be stored."
However, on the web, that's an iframe with a div tag that has "data-qa=step-flinks-iframe-modal" attribute. That "flinks" reference could just be a leftover from when they really did use Flinks for Desjardins, they could be using a cut-down version of Flinks that doesn't give Flinks the same ability to retain info, or they might be just doing the same old Flinks without the same disclosure.
I thought I saw EQ on the app come up like Desjardins earlier, but it (and the few others I checked) all seem to have the explicit Flinks/Plaid disclosure. But even without that, if you are a Flinks/Plaid hater, I wouldn't assume the lack of those names guarantees they aren't being used - do manual, or at least change your password temporarily if you want (although Flinks/Plaid may or may not retrieve and store info for itself).
No sign so far of Interac verification.
5:23 pm
October 27, 2013
Online
Open banking cannot come soon enough, though I wonder how secure that will be IF the digital ID may be one's SIN. How much do we, the retail public, really know about how Open Banking is going to play out?
For the most part, I don't care since I have no interest in multiple institutions to begin with but I remain 'technically curious'.
5:48 pm
April 6, 2013
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Don't need Open Banking for linking accounts.
Just require the financial institution to digitally sign the downloaded PDF of the direct deposit information form or simulated void cheque. That way, third parties can authenticate the source of the PDF and confirm that the PDF hasn't been altered.
9:57 pm
April 6, 2013
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AltaRed said
Open banking cannot come soon enough, though I wonder how secure that will be IF the digital ID may be one's SIN. How much do we, the retail public, really know about how Open Banking is going to play out?
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There is no need for a single digital identifier.
If consumer wanted a service to gather their info from multiple banks, then it is more likely the consumer would need to provide the service with a list of his/her client number at each of the banks. Then, consumer would sign into online banking at each of the banks and authorized the service to download his/her info from the bank using Open Banking.
Open Banking in Canada is about secure sharing of banking info. Open Banking is not about banking at multiple banks as easily as if all one's accounts were at a single bank.
9:53 am
April 27, 2017
Online
Wealthsimple did a marketing video on their services earlier today. Was worth 30 min of my time. I use WS but still learned a few things. Particularly in relation to security - they added several helpful features.
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