Did you know that access to financial technology tools are being threatened? These services require a free and open system to deliver on their powerful promises of a more democratic financial services industry. Unlike many other places in the world, this essential consumer right has not been firmly established in the United States. The Consumer Financial Data Rights (CFDR), an industry group formed by leading companies in the financial sector to support the consumer’s right to access their financial data, has expanded its membership to now include 27 companies. Recent additions include ActiveHours, Clarity, DataCoup, Draft, LifeLock, Morningstar, NextCapital, Onist, Oportun, Petal, Quovo, SnapCheck, Vested, and WorldRemit. These new members join an already influential list of innovative companies, including the following founding members: Affirm, Betterment, Digit, Envestnet | Yodlee, Kabbage, Personal Capital, and Varo Money among many other companies.
Launched on January 19th 2017, the CFDR group seeks to drive financial innovation in a collaborative ecosystem by bridging the needs of consumers, banks, fintech innovators, and regulators; partner with banks to support unfettered access to consumer and small business data through a secure and open financial system; and promote consumer rights to access and share their financial data with third party companies that provide tools to enable better financial outcomes. The growth of the membership continues to demonstrate the growing desire of the fintech community to ensure its ability to deliver innovative products and services used by millions of US consumers.
According to a recent survey by Blumberg Capital, many Americans (65% of survey respondents) agree that fintech gives consumers access to services previously available only to the wealthy, while 69% said that such technology will help people be better off financially. That same survey found that a majority of Americans (75%) believe that fintech gives them more power over their finances. The CFDR group seeks to promote the voice of consumers and small businesses in the financial services ecosystem, defending their data rights and advocating for a fair and balanced system that puts these consumers and small businesses at the heart of the industry. For more information, please visit: http://consumerfinancialdatarights.org
