DCI Editor In Chief Submits Letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Regarding Implementation of Dodd-Frank “Open Banking” Rule

Washington, DC (December 29, 2023): DCI Editor-In-Chief Mark Drapeau submitted a letter with feedback on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement Section 1033 of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (CFPA), commonly called “Dodd-Frank.”

In response to the NPRM, DCI convened over a dozen independent economics, law, consumer advocacy, and financial technology experts for a virtual “working group” to explore the NPRM’s potential impacts on consumers, innovation, competition, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Working group experts agreed that the NPRM has the potential to solidify and improve the current practices in open finance and support further investment and innovation for consumers and small businesses.

However, working group participants also agreed that the CFPB could improve the NPRM and better support consumers, small businesses, innovators, and competitive markets by expanding the scope of covered data; establishing protections against anticompetitive behaviors that threaten to undercut market entrants; not overly restricting data that allows for innovators and upstarts to build better products to compete with incumbents; and accepting Application Programming Interface (API) standards that benefit the broad public interest.

More details of DCI’s analysis are available in the full letter, which can also be viewed on the government’s website. Overall, DCI’s analysis provides suggestions to bolster the financial sector’s competitive landscape. By doing so, DCI strives to create tangible benefits for SMBs and consumers, paving the way for a more equitable and dynamic financial future.

A full “read out” report from the working group’s discussions will be published in the coming days.