The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has begun the initial process of outlining options for consumers to bolster access to and control financial data before issuing proposed data rights guidance.
“Dominant firms shouldn’t be able to hoard our personal data and appropriate the value to themselves,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said. “The CFPB’s personal financial data rights rulemaking has the potential to jumpstart competition, giving Americans new options for financial products.”
The CFPB’s proposed rulemaking would implement section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, per authorities, adding via the options the agency is considering, consumers would be empowered to easily and safely distance themselves from companies offering bad products and poor service while gravitating to businesses competing for them as clients with alternate or innovative products and services.
The CFPB has indicated the proposed rulemaking seeks to create a marketplace in which companies improve their offerings to keep their customers, with developing firms utilizing consumer-authorized data to build and widely offer products and services, enabling competition with larger entities.
Per the CFPB, if its proposal is finalized, it would require businesses to make a consumer’s financial information available to them or a third party at the consumer’s direction. The agency is also considering proposals, including options regarding privacy for personal financial data authorized for third-party use.
Feedback should be emailed to Financial_Data_Rights_SBREFA@cfpb.gov no later than Jan. 25, 2023.