As the Senate Banking Committee held a confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump‘s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a watchdog rented a mobile billboard that drove around Washington, D.C. to make the case for the importance of open banking.
One of the first priorities of the CFPB and its likely new chairman, Brian Johnson, will be finalizing Rule 1033 — commonly known as the Open Banking Rule — which the Washington Reporter has covered extensively throughout its deliberation.
The watchdog group Save Our States, which previously launched BanksVsAmerica.com to highlight how big banks were “attempting to destroy President Trump’s affordability agenda, as well as his plans for innovation and crypto expansion by demanding the ability to ration data and add new hidden fees for online transactions,” positioned a mobile billboard on Capitol Hill to mark the hearing and remind Johnson and the CFPB about the importance of protecting Open Banking; Save Our States’s billboard was obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter.
Trent England, the Executive Director of Save Our States, explained to the Reporter why his campaign is important to American consumers. “Adding new tolls and rationing to banking data directly conflicts with President Trump’s goal to make the U.S. the innovation capital of the world, which is the path to financial freedom and opportunity for all Americans,” England explained. “I’m optimistic that a swift confirmation for Brian Johnson will let CFPB finalize an open banking rule that stops any new fees or limits and keeps American consumers in charge of their own banking.”
Sources tell the Reporter that the new rule could come any day, and that the crypto community and larger financial technology sector are already planning extensive litigation if the administration sides with the big banks in the fight.
