It has to be one of the driest policy topics ever in the banking and financial services space, and yet it’s caused a flood of controversy for 15 years: a small part of the massive Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 that requires financial institutions to provide consumers with access to their financial data and governs how that data is shared with other parties.
Now, this provision—Section 1033—is in the news again, after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently wrapped up yet another public comment period on a new rulemaking to implement this part of Dodd-Frank and fix the Biden Administration’s flawed regulations issued in 2024. The central issue is how banks, the traditional stewards of sensitive consumer financial data, share these records with “fintech” institutions, data brokers, and other third parties.
Taxpayers are not out of this policy desert yet. How this relatively obscure part of Dodd-Frank—less than one page of an 849-page behemoth that failed in its stated purpose to protect taxpayers from financial sector bailouts—gets implemented still has serious implications for the economy and government finances.
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