At the inaugural Open Banking Expo USA 2025, a Fireside Chat between Mastercard’s executive vice president of Open Banking, Americas, Bart Willaert, and Patricia Korth-McDonnell, chief experiences officer at Lendio, brought to light the transformative role of Open Finance in supporting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across the US.
Willaert opened the session by contextualising the global momentum behind Open Banking and Open Finance, referencing developments in Australia, Europe, and Brazil. Notably, he announced Mastercard’s new partnership with Brazilian fintech platform Lina Open X, aimed at expanding Open Banking use cases in Latin America.
“Here in the US, I’m very optimistic,” Willaert said. “Open Banking is here because we’re seeing very strong consumer demand. And it’s actually consumer demand and competition that drives a healthy Open Finance ecosystem where you have innovation happening.
“Consumer demand is not something that you can regulate – it’s not something that you can mandate. Consumers in this market really want financial experiences that are as convenient and secure as they can get.”
He also underlined Mastercard’s recent collaboration with workforce data platform Argyle in the US.
The partnership will integrate Mastercard’s Open Finance technology into Argyle’s suite of verification services, offering enhanced capabilities in income and employment verification — a vital development for streamlining financial access in both consumer and SMB sectors.
The conversation then turned to Lendio’s approach to small business financing. Korth-McDonnell explained how Lendio leverages Open Banking data, particularly cash flow data, to offer alternative underwriting for small businesses often overlooked by traditional lenders.
By aggregating and analysing real-time financial data via partners like Finicity, Lendio matches businesses with optimal loan products through machine learning models — currently funding 4,000 SMBs monthly that would otherwise struggle to access capital.
“That’s the magic we provide to the market,” said Korth-McDonnell.
She added: “The only way to do the kind of analysis and intelligence that we do is that raw data flowing into us in real-time. So, that’s the glue with our partners Finicity that really is creating the rails for these funds to flow.”
The fireside chat also addressed the importance of trust in digital financial experiences. Both executives underscored how security, transparency and data integrity are essential to building long-term user confidence.
Mastercard is tackling fraud risks — including identity theft and synthetic fraud — through its identity network that layers device intelligence and behavioural insights over Open Banking flows.
“One of the promises of Open Banking and Open Finance is that we are there not only to make things better for who’s there, but we’re also doing good – we’re also expanding and bringing more consumers and small businesses in the ecosystem,” said Willaert.
On inclusion, Korth-McDonnell shared stories from her Brooklyn neighbourhood where Lendio has helped local entrepreneurs secure financing after being rejected by banks.
Looking ahead, both leaders envisioned a future where Open Finance enables hyper-personalised and nearly instant financial experiences.
Korth-McDonnell shared her aspiration for a future where SMBs log into Lendio, connect their data sources, and receive tailor-made loan offers within seconds, complete with pre-completed KYC/KYB processes.
Willaert echoed this vision, adding that the integration of agentic AI into broader Open Finance ecosystems could soon provide both consumers and SMBs with real-time financial coaching and automated execution of financial strategies.
“When I think a little bit about how I can see the expansion of those experiences… you can think about consumers and businesses really getting a complete holistic insight of their financial life and how they manage lending being one part of it, [and] investing being another part of it,” he told delegates.
Further reading: Argyle expands I&E verification platform with Mastercard’s Open Finance technology
