Contact: Laine Williams, (202) 897-4757, lwilliams@allonadvocacy.com
Washington, DC, June 30, 2025 – The Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA), a trade association representing more than 30 financial technology companies and consumer-permissioned data access platforms in Canada and the United States, today submitted a letter in response to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Request for Information (“RFI”) on Executive Order (“EO”) 14247, Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account. In its response, FDATA warned that the future of pay-by-bank – a secure, widely-used alternative check-based payments, is now in jeopardy following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) recent decision to seek vacatur of its final rule implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule would have guaranteed consumers and small businesses the legal right to permission access to their financial data, a prerequisite for enabling real-time digital payments at scale.
FDATA urged Treasury to prioritize the adoption of pay-by-bank as a secure, cost-effective, and inclusive alternative to paper checks for federal disbursements. FDATA pointed to the surge in check fraud—more than 680,000 reports filed by U.S. banks in 2022 alone—as a pressing reason for the Trump administration to implement the final Section 1033 rulemaking finalized by the CFPB last year, which would enable modernized federal payments and reduced reliance on paper-based methods.
“Without clear rights to access and share their financial data, consumers and businesses cannot fully benefit from digital, fraud-resistant payment solutions,” said FDATA Executive Director Steve Boms. “Treasury’s vision for safer, faster, and more efficient payments depends on preserving Section 1033.”
In its letter, FDATA called on Treasury to:
- Recognize pay-by-bank as a key tool to combat fraud and improve payment delivery;
- Urge the CFPB to reverse course and preserve the final Section 1033 rule; and
- Continue advancing open banking policy that protects payments as a core use case.
FDATA and its members—who serve over 100 million consumers and small businesses—look forward to continued engagement with Treasury to modernize America’s payment infrastructure in line with EO 14247.
A full copy of the letter is available here.
