Executive Order

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FDATA North America Congratulates Chopra on Confirmation, Calls for Speedy Action on Open Finance Regulation

 

Contact: Kerrie Rushton, (202) 365-6338, [email protected] 

September 30, 2021, Washington, DC – The Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America today issued a statement following the successful Senate confirmation for Rohit Chopra to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:

“We congratulate Mr. Chopra on his confirmation and are eager to work with him and CFPB staff to advance an open finance regime in the United States. Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act authorizes the CFPB to establish by regulation a consumer financial services data right in the United States. The Obama administration recognized a customer’s inherent right to their financial data, and so did the Trump administration. President Biden’s recent competition executive order similarly called for the CFPB to quickly issue a regulation honoring Section 1033. Now that Chopra is confirmed, that work can — and must — move forward.

“With nations across the world moving toward open banking, U.S. policymakers must work quickly to implement a customer-centric, 21st century financial services marketplace that boosts competition, better protects consumers, and helps improve financial inclusion.”

ABOUT FDATA NORTH AMERICA
FDATA was heavily involved in the UK Open Banking Working Group in 2015. In 2016, the working group’s output was published by Her Majesty’s Treasury as the Open Banking Standard. FDATA North America was founded in early 2018. Its members collectively provide tens of millions of consumers in Canada, the United States and Mexico with aggregation-based tools to better manage their finances.

Members include air (Alliance for Innovative Regulation), APImetrics, Basis Theory, Betterment, BillGo, Codat, Direct ID, Envestnet Yodlee, EQ Bank, Experian, Fiserv, Flinks, Interac, Intuit, Inverite, Kabbage, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Rocket Mortgage, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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FDATA North America Submits Comments to US House Consumer Protection Subcommittee on the Future of Banking

September 29, 2021, Washington, DC – Today, FDATA North America submitted a letter for the record for the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions hearing “The Future of Banking: How Consolidation, Nonbank Competition, and Technology are Reshaping the Banking System.” The letter outlines FDATA North America’s mission to advocate for a financial ecosystem in which the end user has complete utility of their financial data.

Throughout the letter, FDATA North America Executive Director Steve Boms highlighted the steps necessary for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to promulgate, by rule, a customer financial data right that will spur greater financial services innovation and competition as well as improve consumer financial access and inclusion and the importance of the subcommittee in . “As the CFPB works to promulgate a proposed rule under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act to improve competition in the financial services system, we hope that the subcommittee will continue to examine this vitally important space and encourage the Bureau to use its statutory authority to create a customer-centric, safe, competitive, and secure open finance system in the United States,” Boms stated.

To accomplish the goal of leveling the playing field for consumers and small businesses, expanding financial access and inclusion, improving competition in the financial services marketplace and, on a global level, ensuring that the United States’ financial services system remains competitive internationally, FDATA North America outlined its recommendations to the Bureau that it utilize its Section 1033 authority to issue a rule that adheres to five key principles:

  1. Create a legally binding customer financial data right;
  2. Define and clear enumerate the limited circumstances in which custodians of financial data may override customer consent;
  3. Supervise financial data aggregation firms;
  4. Coordinate with the prudential regulators on Regulation E modernization; and
  5. Recognize the need to permit current and legacy technology

Boms noted that the combination of these principles “would provide consumers and small businesses with safe, secure access to their financial data and, by extension, to critically important financial applications and tools that can meaningfully improve their financial wellbeing.”

Image result for paperclip iconFDATA North America Letter for the Record on the Future of Banking

ABOUT FDATA NORTH AMERICA
FDATA was heavily involved in the UK Open Banking Working Group in 2015. In 2016, the working group’s output was published by Her Majesty’s Treasury as the Open Banking Standard. FDATA North America was founded in early 2018. Its members collectively provide tens of millions of consumers in Canada, the United States, and Mexico with aggregation-based tools to better manage their finances.

Members include air (Alliance for Innovative Regulation), APImetrics, Basis Theory, Betterment, BillGo, Codat, Direct ID, Envestnet Yodlee, Equitable Bank, Experian, Fiserv, Flinks, Interac, Intuit, Inverite, Kabbage, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Rocket Mortgage, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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FDATA North America Submits Comments to US Financial Regulators’ Request for Comment on Managing Risks Associated with Third-Party Relationships

September 23, 2021, Washington, DC – Today, the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America submitted comments to the US financial regulators as part of their proposed interagency guidance and request for comment on managing risks associated with third party relationships. The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) sought comments on proposed guidance on sound risk management principles for banking organizations to consider in developing risk management practices for third-party relationships. In its response, FDATA North America expressed that streamlining the ability for banks to partner with third-party providers will be critical to the survival of small and community banks in the United States and to the financial wellness of their customers. 

Throughout the submission, FDATA North America Executive Director Steve Boms discussed the scope, tailored approach, and information security around these relationships from the perspective of the aggregation and fintech community. “Though the proposed guidance is directed toward insured depository institutions, it directly impacts third-party providers which [FDATA North America] represents and, by extension their customers,” Boms stated. 

Additionally, Boms discussed concern that the OCC’s 2020 FAQs on third-party risk management guidance have increased the complexity of bilateral data access agreement negotiations, thus creating an environment in which “the largest financial institutions are in a position of increased control over whether and how their customers will have the ability so share access to their financial data.” Therefore, Boms expressed that a solution to this problem would be to remove the interpretive role banks play today in this space through the creation of a regulatory structure in which prudential regulators “supervise and retain full responsibility for interactions only between banks and data aggregators,” while the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), upon finalization of a rule under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, “is similarly responsible for supervising the relationship between data aggregators and third-party providers, and by extension, the end users.” Doing so, Boms stated, would eliminate the “legal grey area” which is currently stifling the growth and innovation of third-party financial tools to the detriment of US consumers. 

FDATA North America urged the agencies to embrace the letter and spirit of the July 2021 Executive Order on promoting competition in the American economy and ensure that any policy changes resulting from the development of this guidance do not interfere with the goals set out in the Order.

Image result for paperclip iconFDATA North America submission to financial regulators’ request for comment on third-party relationships

ABOUT FDATA NORTH AMERICA
FDATA was heavily involved in the UK Open Banking Working Group in 2015. In 2016, the working group’s output was published by Her Majesty’s Treasury as the Open Banking Standard. FDATA North America was founded in early 2018. Its members collectively provide tens of millions of consumers in Canada, the United States and Mexico with aggregation-based tools to better manage their finances.

Members include air (Alliance for Innovative Regulation), APImetrics, Basis Theory, Betterment, BillGo, Codat, Direct ID, Envestnet Yodlee, EQ Bank, Experian, Fiserv, Flinks, Interac, Intuit, Inverite, Kabbage, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Rocket Mortgage, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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FDATA North America Submits Comments to House Fintech Task Force on Data Access

September 20, 2021, Washington, DC – Today, FDATA North America submitted a letter for the record for the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Financial Technology’s hearing “Preserving the Right of Consumers to Access Personal Financial Data.” The letter outlines FDATA North America’s mission to advocate for a financial ecosystem in which the end user has complete utility of their financial data.

Throughout the letter, FDATA North America Executive Director Steve Boms discussed the importance of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) utilizing the authority vested in it under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to promulgate, by rule, a consumer financial data right that will spur greater financial access and inclusion. “FDATA North America has been encouraged by two important developments” that advance Section 1033, including:

  1. The issuance of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking by the [Consumer Financial Protection] Bureau (CFPB) pertaining to consumer access to financial records late last year; and
  2. Inclusion in President Joe Biden’s July 2021 Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy language that encourages the CFPB  to consider “commencing or continuing a rulemaking under section 1033 to facilitate the portability

Promulgation of Section 1033, Boms stated, comes at a critical moment whereby countries around the world are quickly embracing the notion that the customer should be in control of their own financial data. “The status quo, under which financial institutions continuously exercise control over their customers’ data, provides little benefit to the consumer or small business,” Boms noted. Additionally, innovation and competition in the financial services marketplace are stifled under the current environment that is controlled by commercial interests, prohibits the move to a modernized customer-centric, safe and secure open finance system in the United States.

Image result for paperclip iconFDATA North America Letter for the Record on Data Access

ABOUT FDATA NORTH AMERICA
FDATA was heavily involved in the UK Open Banking Working Group in 2015. In 2016, the working group’s output was published by Her Majesty’s Treasury as the Open Banking Standard. FDATA North America was founded in early 2018. Its members collectively provide tens of millions of consumers in Canada, the United States, and Mexico with aggregation-based tools to better manage their finances.

Members include air (Alliance for Innovative Regulation), APImetrics, Basis Theory, Betterment, BillGo, Codat, Direct ID, Envestnet Yodlee, Equitable Bank, Experian, Fiserv, Flinks, Interac, Intuit, Inverite, Kabbage, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Rocket Mortgage, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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FDATA North America: White House EO Will Help Individuals, Families and Small Businesses Recovering From Pandemic

Contact: Kerrie Rushton, (202) 365-6338, [email protected]

July 9, 2021, Washington, DC – The Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America today issued a statement following the release of President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on financial competition. In the order, the president directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue a regulation that would allow bank customers to have access to, and share, their own financial data. FDATA North America Executive Director Steve Boms said:

“Today’s Executive Order represents a significant step forward for consumers and small business towards an open finance regime in the United States. Coming out of a pandemic and recession, a CFPB rule will improve financial inclusion, enhance customers’ access to affordable credit, and help families and businesses improve their financial wellbeing.

This order also will help create a customer-centric, 21st century financial services marketplace that boosts competition. Major markets around the world have implemented or are designing open finance regimes. U.S. consumers must not be left behind and, today, the White House is one step closer to making sure that they are not. FDATA North America and its members are eager to work with the CFPB and the Biden administration to implement this incredibly important regulation.”

ABOUT FDATA NORTH AMERICA
FDATA was heavily involved in the UK Open Banking Working Group in 2015. In 2016, the working group’s output was published by Her Majesty’s Treasury as the Open Banking Standard. FDATA North America was founded in early 2018. Its members collectively provide tens of millions of consumers in Canada, the United States and Mexico with aggregation-based tools to better manage their finances.

Members include: air (Alliance for Innovative Regulation), APImetrics, Betterment, BillGO, Codat, Direct ID, Envestnet Yodlee, EQ Bank, Experian, Fiserv, Flinks, Interac, Intuit, Inverite, Kabbage, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Quicken Loans, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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