Bursar Bulletin: JPMorgan to monetize customer data in huge twist to Open Banking efforts
JPMorgan is wasting no time to take advantage of repealed Open Banking legislation, taking a leaf out of Big Tech's playbook and monetizing access to customer data.
JPMorgan is officially in the data business.
Over the last decade, Open Banking (referring to efforts to put the control and ownership of customer data into the customers’ own hands), has made massive strides globally. However, a major repealing of Open Banking legislation in May 2025 has opened the door for Big Banks to start monetizing this data.
JP Morgan wasted no time in taking full advantage, reportedly sending Data Aggregators and Fintech companies pricing sheets this week. This has huge implications for innovation in banking, fintech’s ability to compete, and also for how easily end customers can access (and provision access) for use of their own data.
I discuss all of this and more in detail below!
The consumer protection rule that started all this
In late 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) introduced its “Open Banking” rule, issued under Section 1033 of the Dodd‑Frank Act, finalized on October 22, 2024. This rule granted consumers the explicit right to authorize their banks to securely share financial data - such as transaction history, balances, and payment info - with third-party providers at no cost (this bit is important).
The legislation followed the lead of many other large countries that had introduced open banking laws, with the primary rationale being to put the control of consumer data back into the hands of the consumers. While the UK is often looked at as a pioneer, other countries that adopted similar legislative frameworks included Australia, Brazil, Japan, the EU, Singapore, Canada and many more.
What changed, leading JPM to do this?
In May 2025, under the new CFPB leadership, the agency signaled its intent to abandon and rescind the Section 1033 Open Banking rule issued in October 2024. This deregulation move effectively repealed the requirement for banks to offer free, API-based, third-party access to customer data - creating room for banks like JPMorgan to introduce fees (which is exactly what they seem to be doing).
The bank has sent pricing sheets to data aggregators like Plaid, Yodlee, Finicity and others (all of whom power some of the largest Fintechs including Venmo, PayPal, Coinbase and more), laying out charges that vary depending on the type of data use, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
This is quite the setback for fintechs that for years have been fighting the battle to standardize and open up access to customer financial data. In 2023, Fidelity, another financial giant, made moves to squash the act of ‘screen scraping’ by enlisting a third-party to distribute customer data through a unified API experience. Fidelity even offered to pay all usage and data fees on behalf of data aggregators like Plaid and Yodlee to help drive adoption.
What is driving the decision to charge fees?
I could give you a long list of corporate strategic jargon here.
But really it comes down to one word. Profit.
The repealing of the Open Banking legislation drops the requirement to provide free data access, which is a revenue-generating opportunity for the financial juggernaut. Roughly one in four Americans have some sort of relationship with JP Morgan, which means that they now hold the power.
To be very fair ( and I do respect JPM in the majority of what they do), there are also some reasons that they cite that aren’t all about the money. Jamie Dimon (JPMs storied CEO), summed up his version pretty well:
“Contrary to what you may read, we have no problem with data sharing but only if it is done properly: It must be authorized by the customer - the customer should know exactly what data is shared and when and how it is used; third parties should pay for accessing the banking system and payment rails; third parties should be restricted from using the customers’ data for purposes beyond what the customer authorized, and they should be liable for the risks they create when accessing and using that data.”
Building and maintaining secure API infrastructure (that allow for data sharing) is expensive - banks like to argue these substantial investments should be compensated. JPMorgan asserts it’s recouping costs for its secure data-sharing systems - which is probably fair.
Also, major banks and groups like the Bank Policy Institute have been challenging the CFPB’s approach for years, citing that access to data creates security risk. I get this, but I also find this to be similar to the argument when folks say “I don’t want to give you my bank information”, and yet are fine sending a paper check into the USPS system (which literally prints your bank information on a piece of paper for the world to see). The reality is that data sharing, under standardized frameworks and security protocols, is actually safer in a lot of regards.
Dimon, however, has openly said that JP Morgan should be incredibly wary of the competitive threat that fintech poses to its business. The reality here is both things are probably true - but given the legislation change, JPM have the advantage and are definitely looking to make the most of it.
How could this impact consumers and fintechs?
All in all, this is really no different than the argument around customer data for Big Tech (just replace it with Big Banks). The reality is that whoever owns (and can constrict) access to end customer data is the one with all the power, and more to the point, the one that can monetize handsomely.
The simple version goes something like this:
JP Morgan and other banks will start charging aggregators for data access and connectivity (which they have no choice but to use)
These aggregators will likely pass on these additional charges (which is likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars a year) to their fintech customers
This will result in two things:
Less FinTech Innovation - it is already expensive and difficult to start a fintech company. There are just more hurdles to plan for than other pure software businesses (access to the US banking system, compliance requirements etc.). This just adds another layer of cost to that equation, meaning that the scales are tipped in the favor of the incumbents.
Costs Passed on to Consumers - Where FinTech innovation does continue to exist, consumers will likely have to pay more for it. In a personal example, my wife and I use Monarch to manage our finances - and we pay an annual subscription fee for it. Monarch uses Plaid to aggregate our financial data - everything from our credit cards, bank accounts, investment accounts etc. My guess is that annual cost is going to go up!
Unfortunately, much like has happened in Big Tech and social media, consumers are now becoming the product. JPM is now able to generate a ton of revenue by effectively selling customer data to aggregators, who end up powering innovative experiences that those same customers want to use.
Hopefully a good middle ground is found!
I hope everyone has a great week this week - I know a lot of you have tuition bills going out this week, so good luck to everyone (and I hope you get a free 3 minutes to have read this!).
Cal