Cross River and Plaid Unveil Faster Multi-Rail Bank Payments Solutions

Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, today announced the expansion of its partnership with Plaid, a data network powering the digital financial ecosystem, to deliver multi-rail payment solutions to U.S. businesses and their customers.

“Expanding our relationship with Plaid to power their real-time offerings is a significant milestone in our commitment to driving financial innovation, and ensuring faster, secure, and seamless payment experiences,” said Adam Goller, Head of Fintech Banking at Cross River. “By combining the strengths of our proprietary banking core and advanced API technology with Plaid’s expertise in financial technology tools, millions of Plaid customers will have access to their money when and where they need it.”

As the world becomes increasingly connected and dependent upon speed, businesses and consumers alike expect real-time, on-demand payment services. Plaid chose Cross River as the first financial institution to support Plaid’s real-time solutions due to the companies’ on-going relationship and Cross River’s proprietary API technology and innovative solutions. Cross River’s proprietary, API-based core creates a direct, efficient and streamlined connection to multiple payment networks – ACH, RTP®, and soon the FedNowSM Service.

“Real-time payments can deliver significant efficiency and cost benefits to businesses and help them deliver amazing new experiences for consumers by delivering money when and where they need it,” said John Anderson, Head of Payments at Plaid. “We are excited to expand our relationship with Cross River to deliver innovative real-time payment solutions on top of its API-based processing core.”

The first real-time offering from the partnership was Instant Payouts on Plaid Transfer, a real-time, multi-rail payout solution to send and settle funds instantly. Plaid Transfer manages bank-linked transfers and payments, allowing businesses to obtain payment authorization, analyze risk, and move money – all within a single API. It also provides intelligence on instant payout eligibility. If an account is not eligible for instant payouts, companies can seamlessly route the transaction to ACH without surfacing complexity to their customers.

Payouts via traditional banking methods take days to settle and can be a major disruption to businesses’ and consumer’s financial well-being. A 2022 AFP Digital Payments Survey, found 92 percent of global organizations have been positively impacted by faster payments and 70 percent of consumers report satisfaction from faster payments according to the Federal Reserve. With the current macroeconomic environment, it’s more important than ever to have access to capital when and where it’s needed. Instant Payouts via Plaid Transfer, powered by Cross River, is a game-changing technology that benefits businesses and verticals such as personal lending, marketplaces, insurance, brokerages and digital investment platforms.