Washington, D.C. — Corporations in nearly every sector of the U.S. economy engage in anti-competitive behavior, and the financial services industry is no different. Today, 18 groups, including the American Economic Liberties Project, sent a letter to Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau David Uejio urging him to create safeguards for consumers’ access to their financial data and encouraging the agency to promote competition in the industry.

“Consolidation in the financial services industry has given big banks inordinate power, especially over a huge amount of consumer data,” said Economic Liberties’Director of Policy & Advocacy Morgan Harper. “Big banks use this control of data to prevent consumers from switching to different financial institutions. The CFPB should aggressively fight back against this anti-competitive practice and implement a rule that clarifies the true intent of Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act: consumers have an explicit right to their data at all times.”

In the letter, the groups applaud the agency’s decision to look more closely at these issues by issuing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Section 1033. The groups urge the CFPB to develop a strong rule that affirms consumers’ data access rights while also building in strong protections against consumer abuse and exploitation. It is crucial that the CFPB continue to refuse to yield to such pressure from large financial institutions, whose bottom lines benefit from reduced competition, as well as trade associations and other organizations that represent them.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.