Stripe Pushes Back on JPMorgan’s New Data Fees

Stripe said in comments submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that while the regulator finalizes its revisions to the open banking rule, Rule 1033, it should ensure that banks do not “unlawfully charge access fees” for connecting consumers’ bank accounts to the financial products of their choice.

Bloomberg flagged Stripe’s comments Tuesday (Sept. 2), reporting that the firm was one of the first FinTech companies to file comments with the CFPB in response to the regulator’s request for comments ahead of its revision of Rule 1033.

Stripe’s comments were submitted to the CFPB Friday (Aug. 29) and posted by the agency Tuesday, according to the report.

The company said in its comments that it believes that “immediate action by the CFPB is essential to preserving our thriving marketplace and innovation in financial services.”

“The largest banks should not be permitted to charge prohibitive fees for data access while the CFPB considers how to address those same fees through the ANPR [Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] process and while an existing rule prohibits such fees,” Stripe said in its comments. “Therefore, Stripe urges the CFPB to consider all options that would deter such fees until a comprehensive revised rule is in place.”

The CFPB filed its ANPR on Aug. 21, saying it was seeking comments that will inform its implementation of the open banking rule and that it was focusing on four issues.

“These issues are: the proper understanding of who can serve as a ‘representative’ making a request on behalf of the consumer; the optimal approach to the assessment of fees to defray the costs incurred by a ‘covered person’ in responding to a customer driven request; the threat and cost-benefit pictures for data security associated with section 1033 compliance; and the threat picture for data privacy association with section 1033 compliance,” the regulator said in the ANPR.

It was reported on July 11 that JPMorgan told FinTechs it will begin charging for access to customer bank data.

PYMNTS reported on Aug. 22 that with the CFPB reopening its open banking rule, one of the central questions is who pays for what data and how much it will cost banks and FinTechs.