FDATA North America

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FDATA North America Submits Comments to Ontario’s Privacy Protection Engagement Consultation

September 3, 2021, Washington, DC – Today, the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America submitted comments to Ontario’s consultation on efforts to strengthen and modernize privacy protections in the province. 

In its comments, FDATA North America called on the Ontario government to include a legally binding financial data access and portability right in any forthcoming data protection legislation or regulation. Executive Director Steve Boms pointed to other countries around the world who have provided legally binding data access, privacy, and portability regimes for their citizens and pointed to existing statutory and regulatory protections that work towards achieving this goal. “Ontario, and Canada more broadly, must support the rights of individuals to access and transfer their financial data, through data portability, to keep pace with other international standards that consider this right to be a key feature of a modern privacy regime,” Boms noted. 

In order to build an ecosystem in which Ontarians’ financial data is protected while providing for the right to benefit from data access and data portability rights, Boms highlighted the importance of competition and adequate protections for data privacy and security in a data-driven financial services ecosystem. Doing so will deliver lower costs, better services, and better outcomes for consumers’ and small business’ financial outcomes, he stated. Boms noted that approximately four million Canadians already utilize at least one financial technology application which relies on consumer consent and enables them to control which providers they allow to access their data, how their data is being used, and when access to their data is revoked. 

Boms concluded by noting that while the federal government moves forward slowly, Ontario can – and should – provide for stronger financial data access rights for its residents more quickly. 

Image result for paperclip iconFDATA North America Submission to Ontario Government on its Privacy Protection Engagement Consultation

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, Marble, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Quicken Loans, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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Member Spotlight: M Science

M Science is a groundbreaking analytics firm that provides research, data, and pioneering methodologies to financial institutions and corporations. Their experts take unstructured data in near real-time and discern critical insights that help clients make smarter, more informed business decisions. Specifically, the firm provides:

  • Data-driven research that leverages data and domain expertise to provide in-depth analysis and insights on public and private companies.
  • Direct access to experts for more in-depth research and insights.
  • Data analytics that enable investment management and corporate clients to integrate curated data into their own workflow and process.
  • Data dashboards, in a web-based, on-demand platform hosting multi-sourced data feeds that are curated and customizable to clients’ needs.

Founded in 2002, the company serves clients around the world from offices in New York, Portland, London and Hong Kong.

A cornerstone of M Science’s offering is its compliance first approach to partnerships though its comprehensive due diligence program and commitment to consumer privacy.

At the core of M Science’s mission is the belief that data can revolutionize the way the world does business. In a June 2020 Forbes column, M Science’s Michael Marrale explained, “By creating insights derived from disparate datasets and expertly synthesized by alternative data analysts, operators and investors have granular visibility into company business operations.”

The alternative data M Science provides also has revolutionized the marketplace for institutional investors. In an April 2019 Marketwatch column, Marrale said, “Alternative data provides investors with a greater degree of transparency into how companies are performing. From purchase data that tracks retail sales, to social analytics that measure online brand popularity, to geo data that measures locations and traffic, investors can now take a much deeper look into business operating fundamentals in a way our research landscape didn’t previously allow.”

M Science continues to use their insights to help businesses navigate shifts caused by COVID-19, most recently by launching a new Retail and Consumer Brands Intelligence Platform. Leveraging tested analytic models and a myriad of data inputs, the solution delivers insights to more than a dozen industries including Animals and Pet Supplies, Apparel, Garden and Home, Sporting Goods, and Toys and Games. The platform’s focus on ecommerce makes it a valuable tool for traditional retailers and brands, as well as DTC and online-only players. As noted by Head of Product Elizabeth Coleman, this information will prove “more valuable than ever” as players in the space try to address shopping behaviors changed by the pandemic.

In addition to providing a revolutionary approach to data and research, M Science is an industry leader in its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Indeed, this commitment fuels an innovative mindset within the company. M Power, M Science’s diversity taskforce steers recruiting and educational initiatives to foster diverse perspectives and an environment that drives better results. M Science also is proud to collaborate with American Corporate Partners (ACP), a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping military veterans transition to the private sector through one-on-one mentoring relationships with corporate professionals.

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FDATA North America Submits Comments to Alberta’s Privacy Protection Engagement Consultation

August 18, 2021, Washington, DC – Today, the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America submitted comments to Alberta’s consultation on efforts to strengthen and modernize privacy protections in the province. 

In its comments, FDATA North America called on the Alberta government to include a legally binding financial data access and portability right as it considers how best to promulgate data privacy standards in the province. FDATA North America Executive Director Steve Boms noted that a holistic and evidence-based approach should be taken “that recognizes the importance of data access and portability for consumers and small businesses across the province” while taking into account the realities of modern technology and digital business. 

In order to build an ecosystem in which Albertans’ financial data is protected while providing for the right to benefit from data access and data portability rights, Boms highlighted the importance of competition and adequate protections for data privacy and security in a data-driven financial services ecosystem. Doing so will deliver lower costs, better services, and better outcomes for consumers’ and small business’ financial outcomes, he stated. Boms noted that approximately four million Canadians already utilize at least one financial technology application which relies on consumer consent and enables them to control which providers they allow to access their data, how their data is being used, and when access to their data is revoked. 

Boms concluded by noting that while the federal government moves forward slowly, Alberta can – and should – provide for stronger financial data access rights for its residents more quickly. 

Image result for paperclip iconFDATA North America Submission to Alberta Government on its Privacy Protection Engagement Consultation

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, Marble, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Quicken Loans, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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FDATA North America Applauds Release of Final Report of Canadian Advisory Committee on Open Banking

 

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

August 4, 2021, Washington, DC –The Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America today issued a statement following Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s release of the report customer-directed finance (CDF) by the Advisory Committee on Open Banking. Executive Director Steve Boms said:

“This report is an important milestone in Canada’s move toward customer-directed finance, and in achieving a customer-centric, 21st century financial services marketplace that enhances financial access and boosts competition. Major markets around the world have implemented or are designing open finance regimes that give families and small businesses more control over their financial lives. The fintech community has worked tirelessly with policymakers over the last several years to ensure that Canadians are not left behind. We are grateful to Minister Freeland for finally moving this file forward.

“As we look forward to next steps of a Canadian CDF system, we urge policymakers to move quickly to begin implementation, and to ensure the framework allows for payment initiation and money movement use cases. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how important these services are to families and small businesses. The fintech community has supported Canadians during this crisis, offering seamless products that provide access to capital, payment and accounting services, and countless other applications. Payment initiation and money movement must be accounted for in this new regime.”

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, Quicken Loans, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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FDATA North America Submits Comments to Canada’s Standing Committee on Finance Pre-2022 Budget Consultations

August 3, 2021, Washington, DC – Today, the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America submitted comments to Canada’s Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) as part of its pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2022 budget.

In its comments, FDATA North America called on the government to fully embrace a digital-first future for its financial sector as well as a consumer-centric model for its privacy arena, and pointed to a customer-directed finance (CDF) environment as a cornerstone of this future system. This new legal framework will “improve access to financial services, ensure a more level regulatory system for financial service providers, improve competitiveness, and foster innovation, all of which will contribute to health and sustained macroeconomic growth.” 

To achieve a modernized open finance system that mitigates risks and protects consumers and small businesses by ensuring that providers’ privacy protections meet regulatory standards, that customer privacy is assured regardless of whether their chosen service provider is a financial institution or non-bank fintech, and recourse mechanisms to make consumers affected by a data breach whole, FDATA North America suggests that the government should include language in Budget 2022:

  1. implementing a CDF regime that include clear definitions of consumer and small business financial data rights, scope, and portability; and
  2. to enshrine a new CDF Implementation Entity (IE) tasked with the design and implementation of open finance in Canada. 

Without this framework, Canada will remain in a financial status quo where consumers and other end users lack control of their personal information and cannot benefit from financial innovation. By delaying this approach, FDATA North America argues that Canada risks falling further behind as a world leader in digital innovation and misses an opportunity to provide cutting-edge financial services to its consumers and small businesses.

Image result for paperclip iconFDATA North America Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget

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, Marble, Mogo, Morningstsar, M Science, MX, Petal, Plaid, Questrade, Quicken Loans, SaltEdge, Trustly, ValidiFI, VoPay, Wealthica, Xero, and others.

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Member Spotlight: Intuit

Intuit is a global technology platform that helps customers and communities overcome their most important financial challenges. Serving approximately 100 million customers worldwide with TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma and Mint, Intuit believes that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper and works tirelessly to find new, innovative ways to deliver on this belief.

Founded 38 years ago, the work Intuit does starts with a mission of powering prosperity around the world. Prosperity means something different for each person, but finances often sit at the core of living the life you want. Intuit believes that everyone should have access to the expertise, tools, and resources they need to take control of their financial life and pursue their dreams.

Across its platform, Intuit puts the power of technology and data on the side of customers by delivering simple, delightful solutions through their products:

  • QuickBooks is the world’s largest small business platform, serving as the center for small business growth. QuickBooks has helped customers simplify the financial complexities of managing their business and achieve success for more than 25 years. QuickBooks began by helping small businesses manage their books and grew into a platform that helps them get paid fast, manage capital, and pay employees with confidence.
  • TurboTax takes the complexity out of the tax code, helping people get the maximum refund they deserve.
  • Mint is a free personal finance app that helps users to get a holistic view of their financial picture and make smart money decisions.
  • Credit Karma is a data platform that helps people find the right financial products, putting more money in their pockets and providing insights and advice.

Intuit’s mission of powering prosperity also goes beyond its products. Intuit leverages its products, unique expertise, and scale to have a positive impact on communities around the world by investing in people and helping them meet the challenges they face. For example, to help struggling Canadian families and small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Intuit launched its Prosperity Accelerator. The 5-month program encourages startups to leverage the power of AI to advance the financial prosperity of consumers and businesses in North America. Selected startups have access to a corporate and investor mentorship network, dedicated coaching, and the opportunity for follow-on investment from Highline Beta.

Additionally, Intuit QuickBooks leveraged its fintech experience to help customers access more than $1.2 billion in SBA-approved Paycheck Protection Program loans and keep thousands of employees on payroll in the United during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. QuickBooks also launched a new platform for product-based businesses, offers on-demand accounting experts, and has helped to democratize machine learning by adding it to the company’s offerings for the benefit of small businesses.

Building on its commitment to help small businesses save time by simplifying complex business operations and taking the guesswork out of complicated compliance matters, Intuit QuickBooks Australia became the first accounting software firm in Australia to be accredited by the Data Recipient Accreditor at the unrestricted level and the third data recipient to be accredited overall in October 2020. The landmark accreditation gives Australians greater control over how their financial and banking data is accessed and used and allows them to securely share it with accredited third parties. In addition to saving users additional time – estimated at around eight to ten hours per week – as well as money and resources that are currently spent on financial management, the move allowed real time and simple cash flow management, with highly accurate future forecasting through richer insights.

Intuit is proud to join FDATA North America’s efforts to bring the benefits of opening banking to businesses in other geographies so that individuals and business owners can easily and securely access their banking data allowing them to spend their time focusing on what matters most to them.

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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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Member Spotlight: Kabbage

In the wake of the Great Recession, Kathryn Petralia and Rob Frohwein launched Kabbage, a startup whose mission would be to use data-driven solutions to empower small businesses to grow with flexibility, efficiency, and prudence. Since then, Kabbage, which is now an American Express company, transformed itself from a funding startup for eBay sellers into a leading cash-flow management platform for all small businesses. Over half a million small businesses accessed more than $16 billion through Kabbage and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the second largest Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lender in the United States during the first round of PPP, approving nearly 300,000 applications.

By connecting real-time, existing third-party business data to Kabbage, small businesses can be approved for a line of credit between $1,000 to $150,000 in minutes. (Kabbage charges no origination fees, annual fees, monthly maintenance fees, or documentation fees for its small business loans.) It’s new online Kabbage Checking™ account comes with no monthly maintenance fees and small business customers receive a 1.10 annual percentage yield (APY) on balances up to $100,000. Kabbage Payments helps businesses send, process, and settle invoices quickly.

The company’s offerings have been particularly helpful for underserved entrepreneurs. As Kabbage noted in a February 2020 news release, a joint report penned by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found credit-worthy Black-owned small businesses are about 20 percent less likely than credit-worthy white-owned small businesses to receive approval for financing at both large and community banks. Even when approved for credit, minority-owned businesses are less likely to be approved for the amount they need. Kabbage and its automated underwriting platform improves financing experiences for underserved small businesses by only measuring their true business performance to make credit decisions, creating a blind application process.

With Kabbage, small businesses are approved by analyzing their real-time, and objective, business performance data, eliminating hurdles that may contribute to the struggles minority-owned firms face in traditional loan-application processes. Kabbage also offers data insights to arm entrepreneurs with knowledge to grow their companies. The firm’s Small Business Resource Center includes information on topics ranging from invoicing to competitor analysis to switching checking accounts.

Kabbage was acquired by American Express in 2020 to continue to expand American Express’s B2B offerings beyond their Card business with Kabbage’s broader set of cash flow management tools.

Kabbage co-founder Kathryn Petralia discussed the future of financial technology with Forbes in February 2021. Her comments sum up the benefits of a customer-directed finance system. Petralia said, “It all boils down to the user experience and consumers’ on-demand expectations. Banks are increasingly being commoditized. Fintechs will become the de facto face of money management, as they provide exceptional user experiences that remove friction points common with traditional banking. It shouldn’t take days or weeks to open a bank account, multiple days to settle funds, or months to be approved for a loan. Fintechs will make financial services more seamless and accessible for everyone.”

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FDATA North America Submits Comments to US Financial Regulators’ Request for Information on Financial Institutions’ Use of AI and ML

June 29, 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 Request for Information (RFI) on financial institutions’ use of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning (ML). The Federal Reserve, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (NCUA), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) sought comments on the use of AI by financial institutions and their products and services to consumers.

Throughout the submission, FDATA North America Executive Director Steve Boms discussed the importance of embracing new technologies that improve customer experience and foster innovation. Additionally, Boms noted that “as nations around the world adapt to modernized open finance regime in which the consumer and small business have the unfettered ability to access and share their financial data with companies of their choosing, financial institutions and service providers are quickly embracing AI to attract and retain their customers, expand access to credit and improve financial access, and combat financial crime.”

Boms concluded by underscoring that “the promulgation of a legally binding financial data right is a critical first step towards broader deployment of AI-enabled financial tools that can meaningfully improve financial access and wellbeing,” along with more clarity from the agencies regarding the application of existing supervisory expectations on third-party bank partners that utilize AI-enabled tools for various financial products and services.

Image result for paperclip iconFDATA North America Submission to Financial Regulators’ AI/ ML RFI

 

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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Member Spotlight: SaltEdge

Founded in 2013 , Salt Edge Inc., a leader in creating and providing open banking solutions, takes intercommunications and interoperability between banks, third-party service providers, and their end-users to a whole new level. The company achieves this goal by creating stable, secure connectivity channels between financial institutions and their consumers.

For consumers, Salt Edge’s solutions help create tools that give them a wider view of their finances. With Oval Money Ltd., for example, Salt Edge provided an API to track users’ expenses and earnings automatically from any account. Open banking is integral to this product. As Salt Edge explained, “This wide functionality is only possible if all the users’ transactions are consolidated automatically from various sources and they do not have to input data manually.”

For lenders, Salt Edge helps users access a new channel of real-time financial data that automatically verifies applicant’s identity, account number, income sources, and balance in real time. Lenders can evaluate a potential borrower’s financial behavior more accurately, which helps them keep risk under control.

Today, Salt Edge is connected to more than 5000 financial institutions across the world. By joining FDATA North America, Salt Edge plans to bring the same cohesive, secure, consumer-friendly system to individuals, families, and small businesses in Canada and the United States. “We’re all into proactive engagement, pursuing an appropriate legal framework, which will support the development of open-banking-based financial services. Open banking in North America is quite different from the European practice, so getting a mandated and regulated state of certainty will definitely catalyze things to move forward,” Salt Edge CEO Dmitrii Barbasura said.

In a February 2021 blog post, Barbasura outlined the six elements necessary to make open banking work in any country. These include:

  • Control – any market participant that seeks to get access to the open banking ecosystem should be verified and licensed.
  • Providing third parties with access to financial data or payment initiation capabilities should apply the most secure, but at the same time, convenient means of authorization and user authentication.
  • Uniformity of conditions.
  • Insuring every involved party against fraudulent acts, data breaches, operational disruption, and other risks.
  • Ensuring monetization of APIs.
  • Access to all consumer accounts, if a consumer allows it. Accounts will determine the next step in open banking evolution – open finance.

Barbasura concluded, “Combined with mobile platforms, open banking provides secure and fast access to financial services anywhere and in the most comfortable format for the user.”

Salt Edge joined FDATA North America in April 2021.

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