CFPB Chief Previews Next Steps in Open-Banking Rulemaking

Source: American Banker

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unveiled a timetable for writing a regulation that will likely force banks to give third-party apps and other financial institutions access to consumer financial data at consumers' behest.

The upcoming rule from the bureau, announced in a speech on Tuesday by the director, Rohit Chopra, is part of a broader regulatory effort to establish a regime of open banking, broadly defined as giving consumers access to and control over their financial information.

"While not explicitly an open banking or open finance rule, the rule will move us closer to it, by obligating financial institutions to share consumer data upon consumer request, empowering people to break up with banks that provide bad service, and unleashing more market competition," Chopra said in the speech.

Chopra said in the speech that the CFPB would propose the open-banking regulation in 2023 and that he hopes to finalize it in 2024. The process will kick off this week, when he said the CFPB will release a discussion guide for small businesses to consider as they provide the bureau some of the first formal comments on the matter.