# Partner Direct Model
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-us/documentation/participant-model/partner-direct/index.md

As a Direct Partner, you can use Mastercard's Open Finance APIs and embed these APIs into your solutions and offer them to your affiliates (customers such as merchants/fintechs who use your services). This ease of integration allows you to quickly scale to more customers with differentiated offerings. Leverage [Mastercard Developers API](https://developer.mastercard.com/mastercard-developers-api/documentation/) or the [Mastercard Developers Dashboard](https://developer.mastercard.com/dashboard) to seamlessly onboard your affiliates and scale your solutions.

### Benefits to Direct Partner: {#benefits-to-direct-partner}

* Single integration with all Mastercard Open Finance and payment services
* Faster path to scale your solutions
* Build profitable, unique services
* Deliver consistent brand standards
* Design best practices with customizable user experiences
* Dedicated delivery support during integration and beyond

### Benefits to Affiliates of Direct Partner: {#benefits-to-affiliates-of-direct-partner}

* Offer innovative solutions to your end customers with embedded experiences designed to fit your needs
* Support customer trust and security through the Mastercard brand
* Lower the technical barrier to market entry with the [Mastercard Developers API](https://developer.mastercard.com/mastercard-developers-api/documentation/api-reference/)
* Faster go-to-market with differentiated offerings

## Actors in the Partner Direct Model {#actors-in-the-partner-direct-model}

|            Actor            |                                                                                                                             Description                                                                                                                              |
|-----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Direct Partner              | A financial institution, payment institution, fintech or retail merchant who is in a direct commercial relationship with Mastercard and acts as an enabler of solutions to its affiliates who indirectly consume Mastercard's Open Finance services.                 |
| Affiliate of Direct Partner | A merchant, fintech, or other application provider that consumes the services of Mastercard's Direct Partners and presents the Open Finance Data Connect experience to their end-users (customers) to permission use of their data.                                  |
| Customer                    | Consumers or small businesses that grant Mastercard Open Finance access to their financial accounts and consent to their account data being used by the Affiliate for a specific service (for example, to make a payment, financial management or loan origination). |

![partner direct model](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/open-finance-us/uploads/partner-direct-model_1.png)

## Next Steps {#next-steps}

Learn how to use the Mastercard Developers API or the [Mastercard Developers Dashboard](https://developer.mastercard.com/dashboard) to [onboard](https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-us/documentation/participant-model/partner-direct/onboarding-customers/index.md) and [manage your affiliates](https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-us/documentation/participant-model/partner-direct/managing-customers/index.md).