In October 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
proposed a new rule intended to encourage
"open banking". "
Open banking" is a practice of sharing, with consent,
consumers' banking and financial data (account balances,
transaction history, payment due dates, routing numbers, and the
like) with third-party vendors who in turn use the data to offer a
variety of services, from financial portfolio management, bill
paying, and investment advice, to facilitating financial
transactions, lender shopping, and even aggregating data for
marketing or research, among other uses.
The proposed rule, called the "Personal Financial Data Rights"
rule, would require any entity that controls or possesses
consumer financial data (a "data provider"), such as a
financial institution, to share that data with third-party vendors
at a consumer's request, "in an electronic form usable by
consumers and authorized by third parties," at no charge. The
rule would also limit a
