Visa shuts US open banking unit

Editorial

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The payments giant has closed the operation that helped fintech and other firms access customers’ bank account data and will instead focus on “high-potential markets like Europe and Latin America,” says Bloomberg, citing sources.

Last October, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published the Personal Financial Data Rights final rule, giving Americans the right to instruct their banks to share their financial data with third party providers.

But, under the new Trump administration’s leadership, in May the CFPB moved to have the rule rescinded in a decision that the Financial Technology Association (FTA) described as a “handout to Wall Street banks”.

Since then, it has emerged that JP Morgan is planning to impose fees on companies wanting to access its clients’ bank account data and has gone so far as sending pricing sheets to data aggregators – the intermediaries that link banks and fintechs.

This week the CFPB began the process of putting together a revised open banking plan.