The
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) plans to send the
companies a 55-page request for information about how they
collect, use and market consumer financial data, the people
said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
"The regulator's questions will pay special attention to what it
is firms are collecting, how they're collecting it and what
they're using it for," said one of the sources.
The CFPB declined to comment. Facebook Inc., Amazon Inc. and
Alphabet Inc's Google, which are not directly regulated by the
CFPB, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The expected request for information follows the arrival of
Rohit Chopra as director of the CFPB following his Senate
confirmation last month. A former Democratic commissioner at the
Federal Trade Commission, he built a reputation as a consumer
advocate who was frequently tough on big tech.
Democrats' top policy priorities include boosting competition in
the consumer finance sector by requiring financial companies to
give consumers more control over their financial data -- a
concept known as "open banking."
Requiring banks and other financial firms to allow consumers to
download data about account balances, payments, transactions and
investments and share it with a third party, for example, could
make it easier for consumers to switch providers.
Chopra is expected to move ahead with an open-banking rule first
proposed by the agency under the former Trump administration in
coming months.
The companies' confidential responses many help inform the open
banking and other future rule makings, the source said.
"This move by the agency is a clear signal that this broader
array of companies, which are not covered by the CFPB, are seen
to undertake activities and collect consumer financial data that
may be subject to future, open banking regulation," the source
added.
(Reporting by Katanga Johnson and Michelle Price; editing by
Richard Pullin)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|