Akoya Calls for CFPB to Give Consumers More Protection by Eliminating Screen Scraping and Narrowing Secondary Uses of Data

Akoya has recommended that the CFPB open banking rule ban screen scraping, narrow the scope of secondary uses of consumer financial data, and require data aggregators and service providers to adhere to qualified industry standards.

"The CFPB's proposed rule is a good step forward and will go a long way toward ensuring that consumer data access is provided in a safe, secure, and transparent manner," said Paul LaRusso, CEO of Akoya. "The final rule would be even stronger if it banned screen scraping and limited secondary data uses to narrow conditions."

While Akoya believes the Proposed Rule will help ensure that data access is provided in a safe, secure, and transparent manner, the company believes it can be strengthened to give consumers even more protection. Akoya has made a few recommendations to the CFPB to sharpen and expand certain consumer protections in the Proposed Rule and promote fair and open competition among participants in the market:

1. Consumer security: The CFPB should enhance security measures by banning screen scraping and promoting tokenized account numbers when Regulation E accounts are used for payments.
   
   
2. Consumer control and privacy: The CFPB should boost consumer control by refining the necessary content for consumer authorization disclosures, strengthening revocation requirements, and permitting only narrowly circumscribed secondary data uses.
   
   
3. Consumer choice: The CFPB should take steps to promote choice for consumers' authorized third parties by requiring data aggregators and service providers to adhere to qualified industry standards that enable portability.

"Akoya's focus on privacy and consumer control aligns with the CFPB's open banking goals," added LaRusso. "We're committed to making data sharing more open and accessible for all consumers and providing access for the entire open finance industry."

Today, more than 4,000 financial institutions, including small to medium sized banks and credit unions, are working with Akoya. Akoya helps consumers more efficiently manage their finances by giving them increased choice, control, and convenience in sharing the data that powers their financial apps.

Akoya provides a secure and reliable network-based option for sharing consumer financial data with 100% of their traffic to financial institutions going through APIs. By exclusively leveraging OAuth API connections to access consumer consented data, Akoya does not rely on consumers sharing any login credentials with third parties outside of their bank or financial institution. Akoya's data access network serves organizations within the financial services industry including fintechs, data aggregators, small and large banks, and credit unions.

Read Akoya's comment letter on 1033 NPRM.

Akoya
Akoya is transforming the way consumer financial data is accessed and shared. Through a single integration to the Akoya Data Access Network, data aggregators and fintechs can directly connect with financial institutions to securely obtain consumer-permissioned financial data through APIs. Akoya manages these relationships and serves as an interoperable solution available to the entire financial services industry.