What are Account Information Services (AIS) ?

An AIS or Account Information Service is an online service that provides consolidated information from one or more payment accounts that are held across one or more Account Servicing Payment Service Providers (ASPSPs).

For example, say a customer (individual or business) holds accounts at three different banks. AIS enables the customer to authorise the sharing of information from all of these accounts between their bank and an Account Information Services Provider. The provider can view specific information from the customer’s account (such as balances and transactions) and use this information to provide value-add services such as account aggregation or budgeting tools.

Under PSD2 and Open Banking, AIS is supported by legal frameworks which require ASPSPs to fulfil requests by authorised providers and require them to have strong security protocols in place to protect users.