Center for Financial Services Innovation Unveils Framework for Responsible Industry-Wide Sharing of Consumer Financial Data

LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Oct 24, 2016) - The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) today released its guide for the responsible sharing of consumer financial data: "Consumer Data Sharing Principles: A Framework for Industry-Wide Collaboration."

This framework builds on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray's remarks yesterday at Money20/20 in which he made clear that consumers should own their financial information and retain the right to share it with third-party companies. The CFSI guide serves as a roadmap helping fintech innovators, data aggregators and financial institutions work together in support of improved consumer financial health outcomes.

"As evidenced by Director Cordray's comments, the ownership and sharing of consumer financial data has become a crucial topic to both financial services organizations and innovators alike," said CFSI CEO Jennifer Tescher. "We share the view that consumers' ability to understand, manage and improve their financial health requires having a full picture of their financial lives. By working with a wide range of stakeholders we have assembled a sensible, yet actionable set of principles that encourages everyone to collaborate in the best interests of the consumer -- and that will help accelerate innovation in this critical space."

The CFSI guide emphasizes five key principles to help the financial services industry establish data-sharing best practices that are secure, inclusive and innovative.

• Availability: Consumers retain the ability to view their financial information within the trusted and secure third-party application of their choice;
• Reliability: Consumer financial data are timely, consistent, accurate and complete;
• Consent: Consumers provide explicit consent for access to and use of their data that can easily be viewed, modified and revoked;
• Security: All entities follow applicable laws and industry best practices with regard to data privacy and security;
• Minimization: Only the data required for application functionality are collected, and stored only for the minimum amount of time needed.
  
  

These principles were developed in collaboration with numerous industry experts, and build on CFSI's previous work to establish industry-specific principles and best practices guides that leverage CFSI's Compass Principles. A one-page summary of this framework as well as the full white paper are available at http://www.cfsinnovation.com.

About CFSI
The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is the nation's authority on consumer financial health. CFSI leads a network of financial services innovators committed to building a more robust financial services marketplace with higher quality products and services, specifically for those who are struggling. Through its Compass Principles and a lineup of proprietary research, insights and events, CFSI informs, advises, and connects members of its network to seed the innovation that will transform the financial services landscape. For more on CFSI, go to http://www.cfsinnovation.com and follow on Twitter at @CFSInnovation.