CFPB sets up webpage for standard-setting organizations

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau set up a webpage for public comment applications to become a recognized standard setter under the Personal Financial Data Rights Rule.

Background: The CFPB in June issued a rule that codifies the criteria for being recognized by the bureau as a standard-setting organization under the bureau’s 1033 rule on sharing consumer financial data.

ICBA View: ICBA is generally supportive of these provisions, including that the provision on balanced decision-making requires small commercial entities to be represented. In its December comment letter on the CFPB’s 1033 proposed rule, ICBA said technical standards are better set by industry standard-setting groups than by prescriptive regulations because technology and industry best practices change more quickly than federal regulation.

More: Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires covered financial institutions to make available to consumers and authorized third parties certain data relating to consumers’ transactions and accounts. The CFPB’s 1033 proposed rule issued last fall would require virtually every bank in the country to establish and maintain a “developer portal” that third-party companies could use to access consumer data with consumer authorization.

ICBA Advocacy: In April, ICBA and Independent Bankers Association of Texas community bankers and staff met with CFPB officials to express concerns with the bureau’s pending 1033 rule. In its comment letter, ICBA urged the bureau to exempt certain community banks from the proposed standards and to permit banks to charge third parties a reasonable fee for providing access to consumer information.