NEW YORK–Is there a potential new revenue stream ahead for credit unions?
JPMorgan Chase and one of the largest financial data aggregators, Plaid, said they have reached an agreement in which Plaid will face new fees to continue gathering consumer financial information from the largest U.S. bank.
In a joint statement, the organizations said the agreement allows “continued innovation” for U.S. open banking, which has been caught up in both litigation and regulatory uncertainty for nearly a year after the CFPB enacted a rule in October 2024 paving the way for open banking, and the Trump administration subsequently pulled it.
Constant Pinging
As the CU Daily reported here, JPMorgan Chase announced earlier this year that it was preparing to levy new fees on fintech data aggregators, citing what it said is an overwhelming volume of unnecessary data requests that are taxing its systems and increasing fraud risk. JPMorgan noted that only 13% of the 1.89 billion data requests it received in June were tied to actual customer-initiated transactions. The remainder, according to the bank, came from fintech middlemen such as Plaid and MX repeatedly pinging its systems, even when users were inactive.
“The agreement, which includes a pricing structure, outlines a series of commitments that JPMC and Plaid made to ensure that consumers can access their data safely, securely, quickly and consistently into the future,” the companies said in their release.
Trade Groups are Critical
Not everyone is welcoming the news. According to Banking Dive, three trade groups representing fintechs criticized the new pact due to the fees.
“Large data providers are exploiting the current period of regulatory uncertainty to impose unlawful tolls on consumers and competition,” Steve Boms, executive director of the Financial Data and Technology Association, said in an emailed statement to Banking Dive.
Earlier, when the bank announced its plan to charge fintechs for access, a Stripe executive called it “extortionate” in a letter to the CFPB.
‘Custom’ Pricing Arrangement
A Plaid spokesperson, Freya Petersen, told Banking Dive in an email that the agreement is “very custom” to Plaid and JPMorgan and extends a deal the companies have had since 2018. The new agreement with the bank won’t affect current customer agreements or pricing for the data it gathers and resells, Plaid said in the release.
No details related to the fee structure were released.
Plaid reported it serves more than 7,000 companies, including fintechs, crypto firms and many of the largest banks.
