A coalition of US crypto, fintech and retail groups is coming together to defend open banking, warning in a letter that attempts by big banks to charge for data access could sever connections between the financial system and digital wallets and stablecoins.
Groups including the Blockchain Association, the Crypto Council for Innovation, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and the National Retail Federation have written to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) asking the regulator to preserve key protections in its pending Rule 1033.
The rule would give consumers the right to freely share their financial data with third-party services, allowing them to connect bank accounts to crypto exchanges, stablecoin wallets, and other financial technology platforms.
The coalition said big banks are pushing to limit who qualifies as a consumer representative and impose fees for data access. Those changes would consolidate incumbents, weaken competition and sever digital and crypto wallets’ ties to the U.S. banking system, the group said.
“A strong open banking standard is crucial for a competitive, flourishing and innovative financial services ecosystem,” the letter reads. “Over the past decade, many of the financial innovations Americans use today were developed with the political certainty that the United States was moving toward an open banking system.”
While banks say open banking would add costs to them, the coalition argued that these costs, such as cloud storage and technology infrastructure, are routine and expected for any modern bank around the world.
The coalition warned that weakening Rule 1033 could leave the United States behind other major economies such as the United Kingdom, Singapore and Brazil, where open banking frameworks are already standard.
“Strong open banking rules are what keep America competitive,” the group wrote, urging the CFPB to finalize Rule 1033 “without capitulating to the largest banks’ attempts to tax access to Americans’ own financial data.”
