Plaid and Astra extend payments partnership

Infrastructure provider for faster payments Astra has extended its longstanding partnership with data network Plaid in the US for the launch of instant authenticated payments with Plaid’s identity verification.

Astra already uses Plaid’s payment authorisation APIs to facilitate bank-based payments.

However, by extending the partnership to add Plaid ‘Identity Verification’, the two companies will be able to offer a “complete solution” for identity verification, payment authorisation, and payment processing.

Plaid Identity Verification allows businesses to verify customers and helps with fraud prevention by assessing risk.

“All consumer experiences are trending towards faster, on-demand funds availability across deposits and withdrawals, but faster settlement comes with increased risk,” said Gil Akos, chief executive officer of Astra.

“By combining the powerful technology of Plaid Identity Verification with Astra’s flexible APIs for real-time payments, developers can now easily make that user experience a reality with built-in, best-in-class security.”

“By pairing Plaid Identify Verification with the payments technology offered by Astra, our joint customers will be able to onboard users and spin up real-time transfers in the same session,” added Tamara Romanek, head of partnerships at Plaid.

“We are excited to extend our long-standing partnership with Astra and bring this combined offering to customers.”

In July, Plaid extended its partnership with Canadian fintech Nuvei to support a wider range of businesses with accepting bank-based payments for multiple use cases.