The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to exempt certain community banks from proposed standards for sharing consumer financial data.
Specifically, in a comment letter, the ICBA urged the CFPB to exempt community banks with less than $850 million in assets from a provision requiring institutions to create and maintain a third-party developer interface.
The CFPB’s proposal would require virtually every bank in the country to establish and maintain a “developer portal” that third-party companies could use to access consumer data with consumer authorization.
“ICBA and the nation’s community banks have long said that the CFPB’s 1033 rulemaking should focus on ensuring nonbank entities that access customer information and store bank login credentials take the same care in protecting consumer privacy and data that community banks do,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “We call on the CFPB to create meaningful exceptions and safe harbor protections that avoid disadvantaging community banks and the customers and communities they serve.”
In addition, the ICBA urged the bureau to permit banks to charge third parties a reasonable fee for providing access to consumer information. This would help offset some of the costs of creating a developer interface without resulting in costs to the consumer.
ICBA officials said the organization will continue to work with the CFPB to ensure its proposal accounts for the privacy, regulatory compliance burden, data security, and legal implications presented by permissioned third-party access to consumer bank accounts.