Tink continues path to European domination by acquiring OpenWrks' account aggregation platform

Open banking platform Tink has made its third acquisition in 2020 through its purchase of OpenWrks' bank account aggregation platform. 

The Swedish fintech’s acquisition of the UK firm's account aggregation arm will see it expand its UK connectivity into business account data, which will be available to all Tink customers later this year. 

Its deal includes a strategic partnership with OpenWrks that will see Tink onboard several prominent fintechs such as accounting software platform Xero, alternative lender Liberis Finance and financial management app Snoop.

Rafa Plantier, UK and Ireland country manager at Tink, said: “OpenWrks was the first platform to be licensed in the UK and is arguably the most complete in coverage as it handles more than a third of the country's account aggregation volume.” 

“The UK is a key market for us, and we have grown both our customer base and workforce significantly here since we opened our London office in 2019. The UK is where we see national and global champions of their segments, such as our partners NatWest and PayPal, that put open banking at the centre of their digital strategies.” 

As part of the acquisition, OpenWrks will power its applications through Tink’s platform enabling the UK fintech to expand its services across European markets in early 2021. 

Steve Bradford, co-founder and CCO of OpenWrks, said: “Our strategy at OpenWrks is to focus all our energy on delivering market-leading consumer applications and data services built on open banking infrastructure.” 

“With this in mind, we have been evaluating open banking providers over the past 12 months and we believe that Tink's platform presents the best opportunity for us to achieve our three-year mission of helping 10 million people in the UK and globally understand what they can afford to save, invest, borrow and repay.” 

In July, the open banking giant acquired fellow Swedish fintech Instantor, a credit decisioning firm that makes over 5m credit decisions annually, further expanding Tink’s product offering. 

Earlier on this year, Tink bought Spanish account aggregator Eurobits Technologies, which processed over 50m transactions across Europe and South America and allowed Tink to expand into four new markets.  

All three acquisitions were made using a slice of Tink’s$90m funding round that it closed in January 2020, in which PayPal strategically invested an undisclosed amount. 

Tink is one of the open banking providers in Europe, connecting to more than 2,500 banks that reach over 250m bank customers across the continent.

Update 21-09-2020 - The earlier version of this article misstated that Tink had fully acquired OpenWrks, not just its account aggregation platform.