Plaid, a financial technology company that enables consumers to securely connect their financial accounts with apps and services, has partnered with Sierra, an AI agent platform for customer service, to extend AI agents beyond single-turn conversations into longer-running financial workflows.
The partnership allows customers to securely connect their bank accounts through Plaid directly within Sierra’s AI agent interface. This enables users to verify financial information or make payments without leaving the conversation, while giving AI agents permissioned access to the financial data required to complete more complex financial tasks.
The integration builds on Sierra’s Horizon platform, which is designed to enable AI agents to engage with customers over extended periods rather than within a single interaction. The companies said processes such as refinancing a loan, recovering an overdue payment or managing an insurance claim often require multiple interactions over days, weeks or months, making them suited to longer-running AI workflows.
As one example, Plaid and Sierra highlighted loan applications. Where a borrower does not qualify based on their credit score alone, an AI agent can request permission to access the customer’s bank account through Plaid Link, assess income and spending data, and continue progressing the application.
The companies said the same model can be applied to insurance claims and fraud resolution. In these scenarios, the AI agent identifies the next required step, requests access to the relevant financial information and continues supporting the customer through the process.
The integration has been designed with oversight controls. Every interaction begins with explicit customer consent through Plaid, while Sierra provides monitoring tools that review AI responses, support compliance requirements and enable human intervention when required.
Plaid and Sierra said the partnership reflects a broader shift towards what they describe as “intelligent finance”, where AI agents move beyond answering individual questions to supporting end-to-end financial outcomes.
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