> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mx.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Institutions Overview

> Institutions represent a financial institution.

<Note>
  For field names, types, and descriptions, see the response schema on each endpoint page, such as [Read Institution](/api-reference/platform-api/v20260929/reference/institutions/read-institution), [List Institutions](/api-reference/platform-api/v20260929/reference/institutions/list-institutions), and [List Institution Credentials](/api-reference/platform-api/v20260929/reference/institutions/list-institution-credentials).
</Note>

A single real-world financial institution may have several `institution` objects on the MX platform.

For example, the mortgage division of a financial institution might use a separate system than its everyday banking division, which is different from its credit card division.

Only MX can create an institution. Each institution can offer multiple connection methods such as:

* An email and a password
* A username and a password
* OAuth (some institutions don't support OAuth)

When creating a `member`, you must also call [List Institution Credentials](/api-reference/platform-api/v20260929/reference/institutions/list-institution-credentials) to retrieve the set of required credentials for each institution and request them from the user.

You can [Read an Institution](/api-reference/platform-api/v20260929/reference/institutions/read-institution) to see what products each institution supports.

<Note>
  The list of institutions can change at any time.
</Note>

## Caching our Institutions List and Credentials

You can use the [List Institutions](/api-reference/platform-api/v20260929/reference/institutions/list-institutions) endpoint to retrieve a list of all institutions currently available in the MX platform.

To avoid frequent calls that return all supported institutions, we recommend caching the institution list and the required credentials for each institution daily. This ensures you pick up new institutions and any changes to existing ones, such as updated required credentials when MX switches to a new data provider.

We aim to maintain the same institution `guid` even if we change data providers, but in rare cases, it may change.