Open Finance is “most important thing” in financial sector, says Plaid’s new European boss

Open Finance “is probably the most important thing going on in the financial sector right now”, according to the new European boss of US open banking firm Plaid.

Brian Dammeir has joined Plaid from European payments powerhouse Adyen, where he spent eight years, latterly as global head of unified commerce at the Dutch firm.

Leading the charge

Open Finance is the evolution of Open Banking, allowing third-party access to a broader range of data beyond banking, such as savings, investments, and mortgages, via APIs.

Dammeir says his stint at Adyen means he is “intimately familiar” with the European fintech ecosystem.

Dammeir, who will be based between Plaid’s European hubs in Amsterdam and London, says Europe is leading the Open Finance charge.

Focus on payments and lending

He will head up around 100 staff in Europe, and his inbox priorities include servicing Plaid’s US clients entering Europe, such as US investment fintech Public, and European clients, such as neobank Monzo, making a play in the US.

“Plaid got its start with fintechs and what we are focusing on is really diversifying and broadening that offering,” he says, adding that a focus is now on payments and lending.

Key clients on Plaid’s payments side include investment and savings app Moneybox and Checkout.com, the payment processor, and on the lending side, rental fintech Canopy and YouLend, the embedded lender.

Plaid, which is headquartered in San Francisco and was valued at $13.4 billion in 2021, says its payments volumes in the UK grew 90 percent this year, powered by partnerships with the likes of Checkout.com and MoneyBox.

Dammeir is replacing Ripsy Bandourian, who has left Plaid.

Lead image: Brian Dammeir. Photo: Uncredited.