Flinks is a financial data aggregator and open banking platform headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 2016 by Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, Frédérick Lavoie, and Julien Cousineau, the company aims to empower businesses with the tools and data infrastructure needed to create innovative financial experiences. Flinks enables businesses to securely connect to their customers' financial accounts, enrich this data, and utilize it to deliver smarter, more personalized digital products and services. The platform supports connections to a vast network of financial institutions across Canada and the United States, encompassing retail and business banking, as well as wealth management.
Flinks plays a crucial role in the evolving landscape of open finance, advocating for a system where individuals and businesses have full control over their financial data, thereby unlocking access to a wider range of services and fostering innovation. The company's technology allows for the validation of account ownership, verification of account balances, and access to transaction histories, which are essential for various financial applications such as lending, fintech solutions, digital banking, asset management, and insurance. By facilitating secure, consent-driven data sharing, Flinks helps businesses streamline processes like customer onboarding and account funding, while also mitigating risks associated with fraud and insufficient funds. In August 2021, National Bank of Canada acquired a majority stake in Flinks, a move that provided significant capital to accelerate the company's expansion into the United States and enhance its reach across North America. Flinks serves a diverse clientele, from startups to established financial institutions, and is recognized as a leader in financial data portability and analytics.