WASHINGTON: US consumer watchdogs are expected to question tech giants including Facebook, Amazon and Google this week about how they handle consumer financial data as part of a broader effort to boost consumer safety and financial sector competitiveness, According to two people, information has been given on this matter. .
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) plans to send a 55-page request to companies seeking information on how they collect, use and market consumer financial data, the people said on condition of anonymity.
“The regulatory questions will focus on what companies are collecting, how they are collecting it and what they are using it for,” a source said.
The CFPB declined to comment. Facebook Inc., Amazon Inc. and Alphabet Inc. Google, which is not directly regulated by the CFPB, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The requisitioned request for information comes after Rohit Chopra stepped down as director of the CFPB following Senate confirmation last month. A former Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, he built a reputation as a consumer advocate who was often hard on big tech.
Democrats’ top policy priorities include fostering competition in the consumer finance sector, which requires financial companies to give consumers more control over their financial data — a concept known as “open banking.”
Banks and other financial firms need to allow consumers to download data about account balances, payments, transactions and investments and share it with a third party, for example, making it easier for consumers to switch providers. It is possible.
Chopra is expected to move forward in the coming months with an open-banking rule proposed by the agency under the former Trump administration.
The source said the companies’ confidential responses help create open banking and other future rules.
“This move by the agency is a clear indication that this broad category of companies, which are not covered by the CFPB, are seen to be carrying out activities and collecting consumer financial data that may be subject to future, open banking regulation. ,” the source added. .
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