Trump Administration Rewrites Open Banking Rules, May Allow Banks to Charge Fintechs

Open banking systems allow consumers to authorize banks and other financial institutions to securely share their financial data electronically with third-party service providers.

The Dodd-Frank Act, passed after the 2008 financial crisis, was designed to enhance transparency and accountability in the financial industry and strengthen consumer protection. Section 1033 of the act provides the legal foundation for the evolution of the US open banking ecosystem, ensuring Americans have the right to access their own financial data upon request, with financial institutions required to provide the data in an electronic form usable by consumers. The law grants the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau broad authority to define and standardize this process, and the affected industry has awaited federal rulemaking for more than a decade.

The Biden administration issued its long-awaited rules in late 2024, requiring banks to provide data directly to third parties authorized by consumers and prohibiting banks from charging those third parties fees. Banks sued, arguing the rules exceeded the authority granted under Section 1033 and required them to build and maintain costly third-party access interfaces while being barred from recovering those costs. Last summer, JPMorgan submitted a proposed fee schedule to data aggregators for customer data access. The Trump administration called the Biden-era rules unlawful and "arbitrary and capricious," and began rewriting them in August, with litigation largely paused and a court ordering a stay of the Biden rules.

The Trump administration's version will include a provision allowing banks to charge fintech companies for consumer data access on a per-request basis, meaning banks can begin charging once fintech companies' requests for customer data exceed a certain threshold. This has drawn opposition from fintech companies and consumer advocacy groups, who argue that if banks do not bear the cost of data sharing, consumers will ultimately pay.

The five largest US banks reported record second-quarter results. JPMorgan posted its highest quarterly profit in its history, Goldman Sachs delivered its best second-quarter performance, and Citigroup recorded its best quarter in a decade. The five banks earned a combined $49 billion. Some argue that banks have already completed most of the work in building the open banking ecosystem, and the additional costs of sharing data with more third parties will be relatively small.

Critics say allowing banks to charge for data access will harm market competition, making it difficult for smaller banks and fintech providers to compete fairly with large banks that hold the data.

Several advocacy groups sent a joint letter to the government in July, saying the proposal violates an executive order Trump signed in May requiring government regulation to promote financial innovation. The president has also been promoting government-backed savings accounts for minors, a platform that uses data aggregation services to connect to users' bank accounts. Cryptocurrency industry groups such as the Blockchain Association also oppose the per-volume fee model, arguing that maintaining the broad licensing and fee prohibition provisions of the Biden rules is essential to fulfilling the administration's promise of making the US a global cryptocurrency hub.

The CFPB's rule rewrite is currently under review by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The bureau issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in August 2025, soliciting public comment and drafting a rule proposal. After White House review is complete, the bureau can issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, which will then be subject to a public comment period before a final rule can be issued.