Stripe (STRP) is one of the first fintechs to file its objections to JPMorgan Chase’s (NYSE:JPM) plan to start charging fintechs fees to access customers’ bank data.
The comment submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleges that JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) “is taking advantage of uncertainty around the future of the Section 1033 rule by imposing exorbitant fees for data access requests, especially with regard to payments-related data.”
Shawn Chen, Stripe’s (STRIP) global head of Litigation, Legal Operations, Employment, Financial Crimes, IP, and Risk Legal, said the proposed fees would violate the section 1033 section of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires access to be provided “upon request,” and the existing final rule, which prohibits such fees.
“If Chase is allowed to do an end-run around the process by charging fees during the interim, it will cause significant damage to the marketplace and consumers,” Chen wrote.
The fintech is concerned that the imposition of these fees could harm thousands of businesses and millions of consumers.
“As a result, startups and small businesses will face higher transaction costs to provide convenient payment experiences, and American households willlose access to convenient, cheap ways to make everyday payments,” he said. “Moreover, such unreasonable data access fees will also push the industry away from secure data access interfaces and back to insecure and unreliable screen scraping, which industry stakeholders uniformly disfavor.”
He concluded his comments: “Stripe believes that immediate action by the CFPB is essential to preserving our thriving marketplace and innovation in financial services. The largest banks should not be permitted to charge prohibitive fees for data access while the CFPB considers how to address.”