American Fintech Council Urges CFPB to Ban Open Banking Data Fees

The American Fintech Council (AFC) has urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to protect Americans' rights to access and share their financial data, following the agency's recent decision to abandon its open banking rule.

The CFPB had finalized the Personal Financial Data Rights rule in October, granting consumers the ability to instruct banks to share their financial data with third-party providers. However, by May, a change in administration led the bureau to petition a court to rescind the 1033 open banking rule.

In a comment letter to the CFPB, the AFC called on the regulator to prohibit fees for data access and to ensure the U.S. maintains its position as a global leader in open banking. "Consumers have a right to control their own financial data, and use it to access the financial tools that work best for them," said Phil Goldfeder, CEO of the American Digital Council. "Imposing fees on consumer data is a direct threat to responsible innovation, competition, and the millions of Americans who rely on responsible fintech tools to manage their finances each day."

The issue of fees has become a focal point for the fintech sector. In September, aggregator firm Plaid agreed to pay JPMorgan for access to customer data after the bank raised concerns about system strain caused by repeated data requests.

The AFC's comments align with those of the Financial Technology Association, which criticized the move to rescind the open banking rule as a "handout to Wall Street banks."