Washington, D.C. — Following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s finalization of a rule designed to facilitate enhanced consumer access to financial data and promote competition—through a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act known as Section 1033—the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“The finalization of this rule is a massive victory for consumers and competition, striking a serious blow against financial industry gatekeepers,” said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “For years, big banks and fintech companies have kept consumers’ financial data locked away to cement their dominance and block new competitors. The CFPB’s rule breaks down those walls, putting consumers in control to switch banks more easily, driving down costs, improving service, and leveling the playing field for smaller, more innovative players. Much like number portability in telecom, financial data portability will bring better prices and services to consumers by forcing big banks to finally compete for their business.”

The CFPB’s new Personal Financial Data Rights rule , first proposed in 2022, aims to stimulate competition by preventing financial institutions from hoarding individuals’ data and necessitating data sharing only at the consumer’s directive. The rule mandates data availability without extra charges, establishes a legal right for data sharing, enables easy switching from subpar services, and provides rigorous data abuse safeguards. The rule will take effect in phases, with the largest institutions required to comply by April 2026, and smaller providers following by 2030. This is the first rule to implement Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010, which mandates enhanced consumer access to financial data.

Read Harper’s March 2023 piece in The Sling for more, here. 

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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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.