Stripe is among the first financial-technology firms to directly and publicly appeal to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to take immediate action against banks charging for access to their customers’ financial data.
Allowing JPMorgan Chase to charge fees while the CFPB considers whether to allow the bank and others in the industry to do so “will cause significant damage to the marketplace and consumers”, Stripe said in comments filed with the agency on Friday (Aug 29) and made public on Tuesday.
The comments by Stripe, a payments-focused firm, come as the CFPB attempts to revamp its rule governing the sharing of personal financial data. The company acknowledged that it’s commenting at an “early juncture”, but said that allowing banks to levy charges while the regulatory landscape is unclear would mean that “thousands of businesses and millions of consumers will suffer irreparable harm before the CFPB can finalise a rule that prohibits or limits such fees”.