API integration provider and data network Plaid this week announced a new partnership with digital banking platform Q2 to offer customers a secure, reliable means to connect accounts to apps and services.

It’s an alliance that will give developers at more than 500 banks and credit unions free access to the technology platform, Plaid spokesperson Kelly Reilly told Bank Automation News.

“They have partnerships with 500 banks and credit unions,” Reilly said. “The reach is vast, enabling 18 million customers. Q2 operates across nearly 30% of the country’s top 100 banks through their networks.

“There will be zero lift access and no cost for these Q2 customers that will integrate on Plaid’s open finance network, which is Plaid Exchange.”

Financial institutions (FIs) using Q2 will be able to implement San Francisco-based Plaid’s Auth and Identity APIs to provide a faster digital account funding experience, Reilly noted. That means new customers can instantly link and transfer money from existing bank accounts during the account opening process — as compared to the more time-consuming approach of making micro-transfers and waiting for those to clear before moving funds.

This technology could prove significant for FIs since customers often open digital accounts and never use them, Reilly said.

In addition, consumers will also have access to the more than 5,500 financial apps available through Plaid.

Nearly one-quarter of accounts connected through Plaid are held at credit unions, community banks and other small FIs, the company said in its blog post about the deal.

This partnership will help banking customers by allowing them to partner with fintechs more efficiently, Adam Blue, chief technology officer at Austin, Texas-based Q2, stated in the partnership announcement.

“To stay competitive in the market and provide unparalleled customer experiences, FIs need to offer the services their customers expect,” Blue said. “By integrating Q2’s digital banking platform with Plaid Exchange, Q2’s FIs will be able to effectively partner with fintechs while providing improved end-user experiences to their customers.”

Meanwhile, payments platform Circle announced that it, too, has integrated with Plaid. The partnership will make connecting bank accounts and accepting automated clearing house (ACH) payments faster with Plaid’s account verification abilities, the company stated in a release, adding that companies using the payments platform “can now directly connect to their bank accounts — without sharing details with Circle — all while reducing risk.”

Combined with Circle Digital Dollar Account APIs, customers can build treasury management and payments applications. Since the Plaid integration, Circle has enabled ACH payment and payouts for Dharma, Linus and Lemonade Finance, Circle said in its release.

Plaid last month announced it would partner with (ACH) platform Astra, allowing it to benefit from Plaid’s ecosystem of developers looking for an automation platform to handle ACH transfers. It also offers developers using Plaid a way to streamline consumer payments, Paul Williamson, head of revenue and partnerships at Plaid, told BAN.