Fintech firm Plaid Inc., which is valued at $2.7 billion, is expanding into the U.K. market, Financial News reported.
The U.S. company expects to recruit more than 25 staff by 2020 for its newly opened U.K. office, with further plans to expand into mainland Europe.
Zach Perret, co-founder and CEO of Plaid, said regulatory clarity on data sharing is on a much higher level in the U.K. than in the U.S., and that the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's open banking regulation is a "huge boon to the fintech market."
The company, whose clients in the U.S. include payment firms Stripe and Venmo, said it developed a software that can tap into the systems of eight of the banks and challenger banks in the U.K., which collectively hold 70% of the country's current accounts. It counts money management app Emma as one of its two paying clients in the U.K., Financial News noted.