With Layer, an applicant enters their phone number. Plaid authenticates the device and uses real-time risk analysis to securely deliver the fastest user experience. For returning Plaid users, Layer pre-fills their name, address, date of birth, and SSN. They can review the details, edit anything that needs a change, and keep going. Everyone else continues to the standard form.
This matters most on mobile, where roughly 70% of Narmi consumer account opening sessions take place. Regulatory guidance has also evolved to support pre-filled information during account opening. In August 2025, the FDIC clarified that banks can use pre-populated information in account opening, as long as customers can review, correct, and confirm it. While the guidance is not specific to Plaid Layer, it reinforces the broader regulatory acceptance of pre-filled account opening experiences. (ABA Banking Journal, 2025).
Once an account is linked, Narmi can use Auth to securely request the account and routing number from the bank, instead of applicants typing in information by hand, which cuts down on errors and delays. Narmi builds Plaid’s API directly into the Narmi Grow flow, so community banks and credit unions can offer the speed their customers expect from leading fintechs.
Plaid Layer and Auth each take on a different point where applicants tend to stall. Layer handles the start: a phone number and a verification code that enables the applicant to link their account which provides their Identity information. Auth handles the finish: the account is verified in seconds to fund the new one, with no waiting on micro-deposits. Both options cut the effort an applicant has to put in, and together, they take someone from “I’d like to open an account” to a funded account in one sitting, on the device they’re already holding.
For a community financial institution, every abandoned application is a deposit that never arrives. Layer and Auth go after the two moments where that money is most likely to slip away. Layer streamlines account opening by reducing manual data entry and enabling applicants to securely connect an existing bank account in seconds. Together, prefill and instant account verification help more applicants complete their applications and begin funding their new accounts within the same seamless experience, rather than days later. More completed applications and faster funding mean more funded accounts and more deposits on the books, with fewer support calls along the way.
With Plaid Layer and Auth, community financial institutions can offer the same fast, modern onboarding as the largest banks, while keeping the trust and personal service of a local partner. Narmi is grateful to Plaid for building alongside us.
