Mastercard to Add Open Banking-Powered Solutions for Accounts

Mastercard will add new open banking-powered solutions that make it easier for consumers to automatically switch their direct deposits and update their recurring bill payments.

These capabilities will result from the integration of Deposit Switch and Bill Pay Switch with Mastercard’s Open Banking platform and the delivery of these solutions in partnership with Atomic, Mastercard said in a Thursday (June 6) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

Both solutions are expected to be available by the end of 2024, according to the release.

“Digital consumers are looking for maximum value from their bank account, which includes simplified and modernized processes for tedious tasks like rerouting direct deposits and paying bills,” Silvana Hernandez, executive vice president, Mastercard, North America, said in the release.

Mastercard’s Deposit Switch can be embedded within a financial institution’s app or website to let consumers automatically route their payroll deposits to a new or existing bank account, without having to deal with manual paperwork, according to the release.

Similarly, the company’s Bill Pay Switch can be offered as part of a financial institution’s digital banking experience, enabling consumers to add or update their payment credentials at merchants and billers they use regularly, the release said.

Mastercard’s partner in delivering these solutions, Atomic, is a provider of payroll and merchant connectivity solutions and a member of Mastercard’s Start Path program, per the release.

Atomic’s TrueAuth technology is used in Deposit Switch to allow consumers to link to their payroll provider without having to share credentials with third parties and in Bill Pay Switch to authenticate directly with providers and update payment credentials on file, without having to leave the mobile app or online banking environment they are using, according to the release.

“By collaborating with Mastercard we’re not just alleviating common paint points, but also empowering consumers to manage their finances more effectively,” Jordan Wright, co-founder and CEO of Atomic, said in the release.

This announcement comes a little over three months after Mastercard announced the launch of its new open banking-powered digital account opening experience for select U.S. debit and prepaid products.

The Open Banking for Account Opening program is designed to improve the digital account opening process by verifying account ownership, lowering account abandonment rates, reducing non-sufficient fund returns by using real-time balance checks, and minimizing the manual entry of payment credentials.