Plaid’s letter explains that the CFPB’s draft rulemaking, published in October 2022, aims to realise the “consumer empowerment goal that underpins s1033 [of the Dodd-Frank Act]” and to achieve a fair, transparent, and competitive financial services marketplace.

The CFPB notes that if the proposals were finalised the rule would require firms to make a consumer’s financial information available to them or to a third party at that consumer’s direction.

Plaid set forth five recommendations: establish a comprehensive financial data access right; require companies to give consumers transparency and control over their data; ensure consumers have consistent data access, no matter where they manage their money; protect consumers’ data access while supporting the industry shift to APIs; and set clear standards and supervise data aggregators.

Ben White, policy and technical standards at Plaid and who wrote the letter commented: “We believe that this framework would enable the CFPB to ensure that consumers have consistent access to their own data, along with the protections they need, and that innovation can continue to flourish in the financial services ecosystem. We look forward to the CFPB continuing this effort on behalf of consumers.”