In response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) call for information on consumers’ access to aggregated financial account data, the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) encouraged the bureau to avoid rulemaking and outlined five core elements to consider.
“FSR believes many of the innovations made possible by data aggregation are positive developments for consumers and the financial industry,” FSR said in its letter. “FSR member firms actively partner with third parties to facilitate the use of consumer-permissioned account data by third parties in a way that both meets the specific desires of consumers while ensuring consumer privacy, data security, transparency around data access and data use, liability allocation and safety and soundness considerations are all addressed,”
FSR encouraged the CFPB to avoid rulemaking or standard-setting that would serve to blunt innovation. Rather, it called for the bureau to consider adopting a facilitating role that leverages the progress being made by market participants toward consumer-centric solutions.
The letter also outlined five core elements of a solution — security and privacy, data access and use transparency, clarity of liability, customer choice and control, and technology neutrality.
“When market participants willingly embrace these core elements, consumers are the direct beneficiaries,” the letter said. “As such, we would reiterate our belief that the bureau has an important role to play in facilitating these positive, market-driven outcomes, but would urge caution in pursuing any rulemaking that would certainly hamper these consumer-focused arrangements, and likely stifle innovation.”