&nbsp;
<p class="blog-article__description new-content"><a href="https://www.ing.com/web/show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ING Bank N.V</a>. has partnered with <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salt Edge</a>, a pioneer in providing open banking solutions, for leveraging the widest international bank connectivity and thus, unlocking a whole new range of open banking use cases for SME segments from various industries, corporate, and individual end-users.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">ING chose Salt Edge for its client-oriented approach and exceptional coverage which allows the bank to serve all types of clients in the key markets, extending the range of services ING can offer. Salt Edge’s enterprise-level offering matches ING clients’ high requirements in flexibility and customisation options.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Salt Edge has the widest bank connectivity of <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/products/account_information/coverage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 5,100 banks worldwide</a> for account information and 2,000 bank API integrations for payment initiation across Europe.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Salt Edge’s Open Banking Solutions Expert and Vice President, <strong>Erica Virlan</strong>, commented:</p>

<blockquote class="blog-article__blockquote-lvl-2 new-content">"It’s fulfilling to see the growing interest in open banking from financial institutions, especially when they strive to deliver innovations to their clients of all sizes. Collaborating with ING Group and helping them bring their disruptive ideas to the market faster is an honour. We are always committed to being agile and eager to meet the most unique and custom requirements of our clients, providing first-class technical support and offering the largest bank API coverage. Combining these key components allows us to deliver on our promises and contribute to ING’s ambitious plans."</blockquote>
<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">About ING</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is to empower people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 58,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries. ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels, and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N). Sustainability is an integral part of ING’s strategy, evidenced by ING’s leading position in sector benchmarks. ING’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating by MSCI was affirmed ‘AA’ in September 2022. As of August 2022, Sustainalytics considers ING’s management of ESG material risk to be ‘strong’, and in June 2022 ING received an ESG rating of ‘strong’ from S&amp;P Global Ratings. ING Group shares are also included in major sustainability and ESG index products of leading providers Euronext, STOXX, Morningstar, and FTSE Russell.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content"><strong>More information:</strong> <a href="https://www.ing.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.ing.com</a></p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">About Salt Edge</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Salt Edge – a financial API platform with PSD2 and open banking solutions for every business. The company has two main vectors of activity enabling third parties to get access to bank channels via a unified gateway, and developing the technology necessary for banks to become compliant with the directive’s requirements. ISO 27001 certified and AISP licensed under PSD2, the company employs the highest international security measures to ensure stable and reliable connections between financial institutions and their customers. The company is integrated with 5,100+ financial institutions in 50+ countries.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content"><strong>More information:</strong> <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.saltedge.com</a>
<strong>Follow Salt Edge</strong> on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/salt-edge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/saltedge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>
<strong>Email:</strong> <a href="mailto:press@saltedge.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press@saltedge.com</a></p>

ING and Salt Edge join forces for widening open banking use cases

&nbsp;
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, accountants are acutely aware of the need to embrace technological advancements and digitalisation to remain competitive. A fact supported by a recent Sage study, revealed that 82% of accountants claimed their clients demanding a broader service offering. Since its inception in 2018, open banking has emerged as a transformative force for accounting firms and software, enabling a way to improve productivity and client experiences via open APIs. Be it an accounting firm that handles the activities of hundreds of SMEs or an accounting software used by the financial director of a big corporation with offices spread across the globe, open banking brings many levels of digitalisation. From access to aggregated bank data in real-time and the ability to initiate payments from a customer’s bank account, to automated complex processes and unlocked actionable insights.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Salt Edge has built a reputation as a reliable partner when it comes to providing open banking solutions to accounting firms over the last several years. Based on the company’s experience facilitating open banking for accounting companies, we will explore the five advantageous outcomes that these businesses can acquire by opting for open banking integration.</p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">Display various bank data in a single accounting system</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Many accounting procedures are still far from being digital, requiring the manual or semi-manual extraction of data from Excel or PDF files and its subsequent introduction into accounting software. Human error cannot be prevented during these operations, which results in low efficiency and high operational costs. Leveraging open banking, accounting companies get instant access to clients’ <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/products/account_information" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data from any bank</a> in any country – in one place. The automatic import of live bank feed data is normalised into a unified format and readily available, excluding the need to convert the data from different banks to a common standard.</p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">Seamless payments</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Companies can now experience a smooth payment process free of time-consuming manual steps by integrating open banking solutions into their accounting apps. This advantage is particularly valuable for accounting firms handling multiple SMEs accounts or financial directors responsible for managing accounts across global entities. Through open banking, they can <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/products/payment_initiation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiate payments</a>, such as salaries, taxes, and multiple invoices, with just a few clicks. The <a href="https://blog.saltedge.com/key-benefits-of-open-banking-payments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added convenience of making payments</a> directly from the accounting app streamlines the entire process, eliminating the need for separate payment platforms or complicated procedures.</p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">Actionable insights</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">In addition to data aggregation, clever algorithms may also be used to further process the bank data in order to generate up-to-date and helpful insights. With data already classified and categorised, accounting professionals can dive into budgeting, forecasting, and cash flow analysis with ease. The integration between open banking and accounting software features allows for efficient collaboration, ensuring that the insights gained from the data can directly influence decision-making processes.</p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">Reconciliation made easier</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">According to numerous studies, mistakes in bank reconciliation can significantly affect a company’s profitability. Due to improper bank reconciliation procedures, about 30% of businesses tend to have financial record errors. In this case, there is also room for open banking. The APIs can automate the processes, revolutionising the way reconciliation is performed. Traditionally, reconciliation involved manually detecting cash manipulations or discrepancies between records and bank account balances. With open banking, these errors can be mitigated as automated reconciliation ensures real-time matching of transactions. Joining forces with Salt Edge, <a href="https://blog.saltedge.com/odoo-invoices-payments-reconciliation-open-banking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Odoo</a> made a strategic decision to provide its customers with instant access to banking data, facilitating quick reconciliation of invoices and payments through the utilisation of open banking technology.</p>
<p class="blog-article__photo-wrap new-content"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-4295" src="https://blog.saltedge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Inner_Blog-accounting-and-open-banking-Salt-Edge.png" alt="Accounting statistics - open banking Salt Edge" width="363" height="110" data-attachment-id="4295" data-permalink="https://blog.saltedge.com/5-benefits-open-banking-accounting-companies/inner_blog-accounting-and-open-banking-salt-edge/" data-orig-file="https://blog.saltedge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Inner_Blog-accounting-and-open-banking-Salt-Edge.png" data-orig-size="1320,400" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="Inner_Blog accounting and open banking – Salt Edge" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://blog.saltedge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Inner_Blog-accounting-and-open-banking-Salt-Edge-300x91.png" data-large-file="https://blog.saltedge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Inner_Blog-accounting-and-open-banking-Salt-Edge-1024x310.png" /></p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">Smooth client onboarding</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Incorporating dozens of new businesses into the accounting software can be done easier by automating the data import directly from the bank. The automatic import of live bank feed data, including KYC details, account numbers, and personal and business data, streamlines the onboarding flow, creating a better user experience and less manual work for accountants. Additionally, accounting firms can finally escape the spreadsheet avalanche by obtaining years worth of transaction history in just a few clicks through one integration. Automation of bookkeeping enhances real-time reporting and decreases operational costs.</p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">Concluding…</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">For the accounting sector, open banking has proven to be a game-changer by giving businesses the tools they need to better serve their customers while navigating the constantly changing financial landscape. Accounting firms can automate their operations and difficult tasks and use real-time financial data to help them make wise business decisions by embracing open banking solutions.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Accounting professionals can uncover the full potential of open banking with Salt Edge’s knowledge and extensive suite of open banking APIs, digitalising their operations and providing unmatched value to their clients. <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/contact_us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Join Salt Edge</a> on a transformative journey of open banking.</p>

<h3 class="blog-article__title_tertiary new-content">About Salt Edge</h3>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">Salt Edge – a financial API platform with PSD2 and open banking solutions for every business. The company has two main vectors of activity: enabling third parties to get access to bank channels via a unified gateway, and developing the technology necessary for banks to become compliant with the directive’s requirements.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content">ISO 27001 certified and AISP licenced under PSD2, the company employs the highest international security measures to ensure stable and reliable connections between financial institutions and their customers. The company is integrated with 5,000+ financial institutions in 50+ countries. Salt Edge has been named a Strong Performer by The Forrester Wave™: Open Banking Intermediaries, 2023 Report.</p>
<p class="blog-article__text new-content"><strong>More information:</strong> <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.saltedge.com</a>
<strong>Follow</strong> Salt Edge on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/salt-edge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/saltedge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>
<strong>Email:</strong> <a href="mailto:press@saltedge.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press@saltedge.com</a></p>

5 benefits of open banking accounting companies should look upon

<p>Salt Edge – a financial API platform with PSD2 and open banking solutions for every business. The company has two main vectors of activity: enabling third parties to get access to bank channels via a unified gateway, and developing the technology necessary for banks to become compliant with the directive’s requirements. ISO 27001 certified and AISP licensed under PSD2, the company employs the highest international security measures to ensure stable and reliable connections between financial institutions and their customers. The company is integrated with 5,000+ financial institutions in 50+ countries. Salt Edge has been named a Strong Performer by The Forrester Wave™: Open Banking Intermediaries, 2023 Report.</p>
<p><strong>For more information</strong>, visit  <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.saltedge.com</a></p>


Salt Edge

<p>Salt Edge – a financial API platform with PSD2 and open banking solutions for every business. The company has two main vectors of activity: enabling third parties to get access to bank channels via a unified gateway, and developing the technology necessary for banks to become compliant with the directive’s requirements. ISO 27001 certified and AISP licensed under PSD2, the company employs the highest international security measures to ensure stable and reliable connections between financial institutions and their customers. The company is integrated with 5,000+ financial institutions in 50+ countries. Salt Edge has been named a Strong Performer by The Forrester Wave™: Open Banking Intermediaries, 2023 Report.<br /><br /><strong>For more information</strong>, visit  <a href="https://www.saltedge.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.saltedge.com</a></p>