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Yodlee update

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Published in Business, Company News on 25 June 2010 by

Earlier this year we announced that Xero had entered into an agreement with online banking solution provider Yodlee Inc to extend our automated daily bank account feeds to several thousand financial institutions and account sources globally.

More than 100 leading financial institutions and portals offer Yodlee-powered solutions to millions of customers worldwide. For Xero this is an exciting and hugely significant step, as it will give many of our customers in Australia, the UK and other key regions such as North America the opportunity to have their bank transactions appear automatically in Xero.

Since the announcement we have been busy designing and developing our integration with Yodlee. It’s a big project that not only involves changes to the bank account features within Xero, but upgrading the banking integration environment behind the Xero application to securely manage the transfer of account data with Yodlee.

The integration project is now well advanced and we expect to start internal testing in July.  Once our own testing is complete we’re planning to release the Yodlee integration in two stages:

Stage one – Australia

First we aim to make the Yodlee service available to all our Australian customers. The timing for this is likely to be September and will provide automated bank feeds for many of the banks that we don’t already have direct feeds with, including the following which you’ve requested:

  • Bank of Queensland
  • BankSA
  • BankWest
  • Citibank
  • Macquarie Bank
  • St George Bank

Direct feeds with Westpac

You may have noticed Westpac does not feature on the above list of Australian banks. That’s because we are pleased to announce that we are developing a direct feed service with Westpac, similar to the feeds we already have with ANZ, CBA and NAB.  We expect to make Westpac feeds available around the same time as the first Yodlee release in Australia.

Even with Yodlee, Xero remains open to forming relationships with financial institutions for more direct feeds.

More to come

While Suncorp Metway and Bendigo banks are also supported by Yodlee, they both require two-factor authentication for access to account statement data and this will not be part of the initial release of our Yodlee integration. However, we expect to support banks with two-factor authentication (such as Suncorp Metway and Bendigo) in a later release.

Stage two – the world

Once we have successfully completed and bedded down this first release, the Yodlee service will then be made available to all Xero customers worldwide. At this stage we expect this to occur by November. But as we go through this process we’ll keep you updated via the blog. Stay tuned!!

 

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55 comments

alex
25 June 2010 #

since you are working on bank feed stuff, any change of fixing the kiwibank feeds, they still don’t show any reference information or cheque numbers

Alastair Grigg
25 June 2010 #

Hi Alex. Yes, Kiwibank have just developed a new feed for us, which provides more statement line reference data. We are working on our end of this now and will move Kiwibank customers over to this improved feed as soon as we can.

Jason
25 June 2010 #

Will the feed integration with Yodlee extend to credit cards or will it just continue to focus solely on bank accounts?

Brad
25 June 2010 #

Wool! Points for Xero and Yodlee! Two fantastic companies!

Anton Gerner
25 June 2010 #

No Suncorp Metway ! What ?
I am not happy.
Almost time to quit Xero

Andrew Haynes
25 June 2010 #

Good to know this is on track for September.

+1 for the question about credit cards

Alastair Grigg
25 June 2010 #

Andrew & Jason – yes, in most cases the Yodlee service will provide feeds from both bank and credit card accounts. Of the Australian banks listed above all except Macquaire will include access to credit card account statements. Following on from the Yodlee release we will be working with our partner banks to take advantage of our new banking integration environment to extend their existing direct feeds to also include credit card accounts.

Alastair Grigg
25 June 2010 #

Hi Anton – appreciate this is frustrating, but supporting feeds from accounts which require two factor authentication involves additional workflows to be developed and we wanted to manage the project scope to get this first release out as soon as possible.

Tim Smith
25 June 2010 #

Awesome guys. Just Awesome.

Stoked to hear of the Westpac feeds!

Adam
25 June 2010 #

What’s the difference in time-delay between your direct-to-bank feeds and Yodlee feeds?

Alastair Grigg
25 June 2010 #

Hi Adam. Virtually no difference. Our direct feeds are generally in sync with the customer’s online banking statement data availability, which is where Yodlee sources its data from.

Anton Gerner
25 June 2010 #

Hi Alastair,
Thanks for your reply. I’ve calmed down now.
If you could work really, really, really really hard to get the Suncorp Metway feeds onboard it would really be appreciated. Can you at least give me an idea of the timing ? 1 month ? 2, 3, 4 ?
If it’s going to take a long time I’ll consider changing banks.

Thanks.

Anthony
26 June 2010 #

You do know that Suncorp don’t always require 2 factor authentication and therefore there are a lot of customers without it?

Also- What about the major banks being included from a personal/ease-of-use perspective? I know the majority of them work with the ANZ MoneyManager (Yodlee PFM) but it would be good to get that level of connectivity in Xero Personal.

David Kime
26 June 2010 #

Very disappointed that the UK is yet again way down the list. We are desperate for this as only HSBC will play ball. We will just have to keep importing our statements

Peter Spencer
26 June 2010 #

I think you will find that the UK banks can be tricky and still stuck in their old ways. From my chats with RBS BankLine, they are not even linked to Yodlee. I have a clever Excel spreadsheet, that does all the adjustments to make a clean import into Xero from Bankline statements – so it’s pretty easy going if you don’t need real-time updates and you just need to import once a month.

But my prime solution will be to just change banks to HSBC!! Something I’m seriously considering.

Alastair Grigg
26 June 2010 #

Hi Anton. We don’t have a firm release date for this yet, but we’d hope to be able move onto it soon after the global release, so maybe around 3 months but we’ll provide updates on this as we progress the initial release.

Hi Anthony, we are going on how Yodlee has classified each bank. Would be interested to know more about when 2FA is or isn’t required by Suncrop customers. Believe we have spoken before regarding direct feeds so if you can send me some more information that would be great.

Once we’ve got Yodlee fully integrated with Xero business we’ll certainly be looking at if we replicate this integration into the Xero Personal product. To some extent this will depend in the progress we make with getting direct feeds to Personal from partner banks.

Ash Mehta
30 June 2010 #

I was hoping for the feeds to be available in July :) However, do understand the work that’s going into it. So look forward to September now :) Let me know if you need any BETA testers? :)

Paul Burton
5 July 2010 #

Not even sure when or how Yodlee will impact U.S. customers, but it doesn’t seem to be a near-term possibility.

The bigger question is this … Will automated bank statement integration through Yodlee (for U.S. customers) mean an additional monthly fee?

If so, I’ll be saying goodbye to Xero. Love the service but at $30/month there are cheaper alternatives that offer this functionality as part of the basic monthly fee.

Andrew Tokeley
5 July 2010 #

@Paul – at this stage we have no plans to charge any additional monthly fee for you to receive feeds via Yodlee. It will be included in your standard monthly subscription.

Barry
21 July 2010 #

I’ve signed up for a Xero account specifically waiting for this feature. You’ve got one customer in the US eagerly waiting to pay you when this feature is ready.

Anthony
21 July 2010 #

Hey Alastair-

The tokens at Suncorp are mandatory should you wish to make external transfers over a certain amount each day, or if a customer chooses to opt-in.

Shoot me an email if you need some contact’s at Suncorp re. feeds or more on tokens. I am no longer with them.

Alastair Grigg
21 July 2010 #

@Anthony, thanks will be in touch directly to clarify.
@Barry, we hear you and we’re working hard to get this integration out there!

Richard
5 August 2010 #

I too am keen for this feature. At the moment, i am running Personal – do you have any plans for integration into the personal accounts too?

Alastair Grigg
6 August 2010 #

Hi Richard,
When we’ve got Yodlee integration with Xero business released we’ll certainly be considering if we also integrate Yodlee into Xero Personal. No firm plans at this stage but expect we’ll have an update in the next few months.

C Walker
7 August 2010 #

Yodlee initial release date? I know I wont get any specifics, which is fair enough – but is this weeks or months away?

C Walker
7 August 2010 #

Oh September, sorry should not have been so lazy :P Keep up the amazing work

Jeremy Ross
7 August 2010 #

Really looking forward to bank feeds for United States customers.

T'Anne Mills
9 August 2010 #

Bring on Bendigo Bank!! :)

Will
16 August 2010 #

Loving the Westpac integration, well done Xero team!!

Griffe
23 August 2010 #

Do you know if its middle or late September?
Also – will it support Wachovia?

Alastair Grigg
23 August 2010 #

The initial release of the Yodlee integration, providing bank feeds from Australian banks as listed above, is currently planned for late September. We then expect to extend the Yodlee integration sometime from November onwards to provide bank feeds from all other banks and financial institutions available through the Yodlee service (that don’t require two factor authentication for account statement access). Support for Wachovia Bank will be included in this second release.

Matt Alsbury-Morris
25 August 2010 #

I’m waiting on this feature big time… it is one of the best selling points whenever I talk to customers about Xero… PROBLEM… UK hasn’t been dealt with and the date I get told keeps getting pushed back. When I tell UK customers that it currently only works with HSBC they say… ‘oh well, come back to me when Barclays/Natwest/Santander/etc are on the system’! It’s not easy to get them to agree to move banks just for accounts to become easier… please get the UK release as soon as you can?!

Anonymouse
27 August 2010 #

When will some of the US bank feeds be supported namely – Fifth Third, USBank, Huntington?

Alastair Grigg
27 August 2010 #

Hi,
See my comments immediately above, but we expect to extend the Yodlee integration from November onwards to include other regions such as the US. Fifth Third bank will become available in this phase of the project. However, USBank and Huntington are both classified by Yodlee as requiring multi-factor authentication for online account access. We have some further development to do to enable integration with multi-factor banks. We hope to have this final phase of the project released in the first quarter of next year, which will provide access to these banks.

RichardH
1 September 2010 #

Dear Xero. Please add Yodlee integration into Xero Personal ASAP. I am now trialling MoneyStrands in comparison to Xero Personal. MoneyStrands has automatic bank feeds (for my Commonwealth, Amex, Mastercard accounts), plus excellent automatic categorisation of transactions (Xero Personal almost does not work). And MoneyStrands is free too. I suggest your staff should see what the competition are up to. That aside, I would still pay for Xero to support a local company if functionality is improved.

Adam
1 September 2010 #

Alastair, any update on the westpac side of the house ;) . thanks

Alastair Grigg
1 September 2010 #

Hi Richard,
Yes, current focus is on getting Yodlee integrated with Xero Business, but will certainly then be looking at this for Xero Personal along with talking with prospective partner banks in key regions like Australia for direct feeds. Will update as soon as we have more information about this. Surprised you had difficulties with automatic categorisation as we are seeing the majority of transactions increasingly auto categorised as expected. If you could email support@xero.com with more details of what type of account and statement import file (CSV, OFX?) you used we can take a closer look. Thanks.

Alastair Grigg
1 September 2010 #

Hi Adam,
The direct feed project with Westpac (Australia) is progressing well. At this stage we are on track to release either later in September or early October. Will be giving another update on this and the Yodlee integration next week.
Rgds Alastair

nathan
9 September 2010 #

looking forward to banking in the USA. Any news on this. Is November still the timeline? Love your product, by the way!

Alastair Grigg
9 September 2010 #

@Nathan it will depend on how the first release for Australian customers goes. If that runs smoothly it could available for US customers by the end of November.

Integrati Marketing Consultant
26 October 2010 #

Bring on the St. George feed woo woo!

:)

James Birch
28 October 2010 #

Any news on using Barclays in the UK?

Alastair Grigg
28 October 2010 #

Hi James. Yes, Barclays will be available once we release the second phase of the Yodlee project, providing access to numerous UK and US banks. Timing to be confirmed but hopefully sometime from late November.

Nick Atkins
22 November 2010 #

@Alastair Grigg – sorry if this has been answered before but I haven’t seen any lists. Will this include Lloyds Banking Group in the UK? I fear that Lloyds are very cautious in their ways and suspect they will be the last.

Alastair Grigg
25 November 2010 #

Hi Nick,
You’ll be pleased to know that Llyods TSB will be available along with most other major UK banks as soon as we release these new bank feeds in the UK. Standby as we are on track to announce this release very shortly.

Jason M Blumer
26 November 2010 #

@Alastair, any updates on Yodlee for the US market?

Alastair Grigg
27 November 2010 #

Hi Jason,
Given customer numbers and the expected uptake we’ve decided to split stage 2 of the Yodlee project into two releases. First is feeds for banks in the UK and Ireland, due within the next few days. Then we’ll release feeds for US and Canadian banks, which all going plan will be 2-3 weeks later. We certainly want to get these to you before Xmas!

Nick Atkins
1 December 2010 #

@Alastair, I was so pleased to get the announcement today but the excitement didn’t last long. Lloyds TSB Business Banking introduced calculator access recently and so it would appear that this gives you another hurdle – I’m amazed this hadn’t been apparent, no one on Lloyds TSB Business Banking will be able to access bank feeds on Xero. Please could you say whether or not this is a difficult hurdle to overcome? Many thanks, Nick Atkins

Alastair Grigg
1 December 2010 #

@Nick, Lloyds TSB Business is not currently designated as a multi factor authentication banking site. We have had some customers successfully activate Lloyds business account feeds, but it may be that they have commenced a phased roll-out of a second authentication step for business customers. We will contact you directly to discuss further.

Stewart Hunt
3 December 2010 #

Just about to witch to Xero now bank feeds are online and then Lloyds switched me to card reader auth!!!! Xero are you going to set them up as multi factor?

Dave Bell
25 February 2011 #

Seems to be alot of confusion here with what UK banks are supported.

Live feeds have enough benefits to warrant a change of bank and so before we move from Barclays, can anyone tell me if there are any other BUSINESS accounts in the UK with any other bank (apart from the HSBC direct feed) that is supported?

After speaking with Xero support and checking banks in the Xero admin, it seems to be that only personal accounts are supported.

Reason being, all UK Business accounts from every bank require some form of token or card reader authentication – which makes the live feed impossible.

Can anyone tell me otherwise or report a bank I can move to?

Rob Hyg
10 April 2011 #

Still waiting for RBS Bankline…

Alastair Grigg
13 April 2011 #

@Rob, Good news, RBS Business Bankline is available. Let us know through Customer Support if you have any questions or problems activating this bank feed.

Ruchi
1 August 2011 #

Just wondering if Xero does automatic feeds with CBA Credit Cards?

Alastair Grigg
3 August 2011 #

@ Ruchi, Not just yet, but with the next release of Yodlee bank feeds we’ll be adding feeds for bank accounts that use Multi factor Authentication (MFA) like CBA Credit Cards. This release is due out around mid August.

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