Prioritizing Consumer Outcomes In the Face of Uncertainty

Just a few weeks ago, we shared a recap and early thoughts on all the happenings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Since then, quite a bit has changed. On February 11, President Trump nominated civil service veteran Jonathan McKernan to serve as Director of the CFPB. McKernan has most recently been serving a five-year term as a director at the FDIC, where he advocated for “responsible risk-taking” and against “duplicative” regulatory requirements on financial institutions across agencies. 

The in-progress nomination of McKernan signals a potential longer term “settling of the dust” for all the recent tumult at the agency. But at present, uncertainty continues in the face of multiple actions from Administration leaders and multiple lawsuits in the courts. 

While MX can’t predict where things will end up, we do know that our mission of supporting financial consumers and the companies that serve them remains unchanged in the face of political uncertainty. We’re proud to work closely with banks, credit unions, and other financial providers to help them drive better financial outcomes for consumers. To uphold our mission and continue to support financial institutions in meeting consumer needs, we’re staying focused on five key principles: 

1. Open Banking is the path forward regardless of regulation. 

MX is committed to open banking adoption and secure APIs because we believe that it is the path forward for financial consumers and the companies that serve them. Open Banking allows consumers to securely share their financial data with trusted third-party providers, which can then provide them with innovative financial products and services that can help them manage their money more effectively. Secure APIs are essential for ensuring that this data is shared safely and securely. By focusing on open banking and secure APIs, MX is helping to create a more competitive and innovative financial services landscape that benefits consumers and businesses alike.

2. Financial inclusion is a key ingredient of societal strength and stable democracies. 

When individuals and communities have access to — and can effectively use — a range of financial services, it fosters economic empowerment, reduces inequality, and promotes social mobility. This, in turn, creates a more equitable and resilient society, where all citizens can participate fully in economic life and contribute to the nation's overall well-being. By breaking down barriers to financial access and promoting financial literacy — and arming consumers with personalized advice and intelligent tools, we can build stronger, more inclusive, and more democratic societies that benefit everyone. We see this in the work that our clients do to use consumer-permissioned data to support those customers with the personalized advice and insights they want to help them better manage their finances. 

3. Helping to fight fraud remains a top priority.

Financial fraud is a huge problem, with no signs of slowing down. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023. MX helps bolster fraud prevention and mitigate risk with tokenized connections that eliminate credential sharing, real-time verifications and balance checks, and cleansed and enhanced transaction data that can help you spot anomalies faster. Through these robust tools and insights, we work hard to play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of the financial system and protecting consumers from the devastating effects of fraud.

4. Building in a privacy-first way is a corporate value. 

Since Day 1, MX has focused on building products in a way that protects consumer privacy. We also believe consumers should have the right to control their financial data and choose how it is shared and used. Unlike some others in the aggregation space, our approach ensures that consumers maintain anonymity when they connect to multiple financial institutions or fintechs that use our products to connect. We intentionally ensure we don’t know that the same consumer has connected to two of our clients so that we avoid “profile building” in our systems without consumer consent. We believe consumers should provide clear and explicit permission for use of their data, including how it will be used to perform the requested service. Regardless of what happens, we think Rule 1033 is a signal in the right direction by promoting secure, permissioned transfer of data, and is moving the industry away from less secure, more expensive screen scraping.

5. Assessing risk in bank-fintech partnerships should put the consumer first.  

We’re committed to continuing to practice responsible, consistent due diligence in our bank-fintech partnership arrangements. We believe that risk assessments should be based on the level of risk to consumers, with higher-risk use cases (e.g., money movement, credit scoring) requiring more stringent controls. We will continue to protect consumer data through bilateral agreements and consistent due diligence practices, regardless of the current uncertainty among U.S. financial regulatory agencies. 

Conclusion 

Regardless of political headwinds and regulatory uncertainty, MX will continue to focus on open banking, financial inclusion, fraud prevention, privacy protection, and responsible risk assessments in bank-fintech partnerships. We believe that these principles will help us to create a more competitive and innovative financial services landscape that benefits consumers and businesses alike.

And, a financial ecosystem driven by these principles — which all tie back to protecting consumer-permissioned data — creates a win-win scenario for both consumers and financial institutions. Simply put, better data management leads to happier customers, increases engagement and retention, and drives growth from increased deposits and more. The financial institutions and fintechs who understand this and are already implementing open banking APIs and new data strategies are poised for success regardless of what happens in the new regulatory environment in the United States.