A little-known rule being considered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will have significant implications for houses of worship, religious organizations, secular nonprofits, and, frankly, all Americans.
In the ears of most conservatives, the CFPB is less a four-letter acronym than a four-letter swear word. The brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the agency is synonymous with regulatory overreach. It’s no wonder then that when President Donald Trump took office again in January, one of his team’s first moves was to vacate rules and regulations put in place by the CFPB during the previous administration.
One of those was Rule 1033, known as the “open banking rule.” Put simply, the Dodd-Frank Act required the CFPB to create a rule granting consumers control over their own data. This rule allows consumers to share their own banking data with financial technology services, banking platforms, payment processors, and other services. Trump began the process of developing that rule during his first term, and it was finalized in 2024 under President Joe Biden with the support of House Republicans such as Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC).
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The country’s biggest banks opposed the rule from the beginning, believing they should have sole control over customer data, and if fintechs, crypto platforms, or other institutions want to access it, they should be required to pay exorbitant fees. Fintech and crypto advocates have argued that the banks’ behavior here fits in a larger pattern of big banks controlling who has access to banking institutions and resources, and how they access it.
On this point, fintech and crypto advocates are spot on. Too often, many of our nation’s largest and most powerful banks have proven they cannot always be trusted. When he announced his new executive order holding banks accountable, Trump revealed he was one of the many victims of JP Morgan Chase’s discriminatory scheme.
While alarming, this revelation wasn’t shocking. For too long, some major financial institutions have weaponized their bias against conservatives and religious organizations to make it harder to survive and advance their mission and ministry. In 2022, JP Morgan Chase closed the account of the National Committee for Religious Freedom, an organization founded by Sam Brownback to protect religious liberty for Americans of all faiths. JP Morgan offered no explanation for this move and demanded a list of its donors as a condition to have the account reinstated.
And they’re not the only culprit. In April 2023, the organization I founded, Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a consumer complaint with the Tennessee attorney general on behalf of the Indigenous Advance Ministries after Bank of America canceled the account with scant explanation and minimal warning. The bank cited its vague “risk tolerance” policies as an explanation for shuttering the account of the group, which helps “provide basic necessities for orphaned and vulnerable children, raise Christian families,” and more. In this case, and so many others, “risk tolerance” has become little more than a euphemism for ideological intolerance.
Conservatives and religious groups can’t operate under the threat of shifting political proclivities of the leaders of these major banks. Giving such banks more power makes no sense.
That’s where the open banking rule comes in. If the banks have it their way, the rule would be scrapped entirely and they would be allowed to charge fintechs exorbitant fees when customers authorize their financial apps to access their own bank data. This type of anti-competitive behavior could crush competition and tighten the grip of JP Morgan, Bank of America, and other major institutions on power.
Less competition leads to stifled innovation and less consumer choice. After widespread pushback from consumer groups and businesses, the Trump CFPB filed a motion on July 29 to pause litigation to vacate the rule. They are now engaged in a rulemaking process to protect Trump’s agenda of innovation and financial freedom.
While facially counterintuitive for conservatives to enthusiastically support CFPB action, this is a rare case of deregulation through regulation. By requiring banks to abide by both the letter and spirit of the open banking rule, the Trump CFPB not only has an opportunity to secure the United States as the global leader shaping the future of finance, but also to ensure all Americans are able to benefit from its innovation agenda fully.
More than 40% of Americans donate money to churches, synagogues, or other religious organizations, collectively giving more than $120 billion each year. After the explosion of digital payment apps – powered by fintech platforms that big banks are pushing out of the marketplace – almost half of donations to faith organizations are now digital. Three-quarters of churches now encourage their congregants to give online, in large part because churches that use fintech-powered tithing platforms increase overall donations by 32%.
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The major fintech companies such as Stripe, which JP Morgan and Bank of America view as competition, power popular tithing apps used by tens of thousands of churches across the country. They’re not just trying to squeeze them out through regulatory maneuvering; recent reporting suggests JP Morgan allegedly threatened to shut down data aggregators such as Stripe and Plaid, even as the Trump administration is still navigating the rulemaking process.
This is a direct threat to religious Americans and all houses of worship. Protecting our full expression of religious freedom, in this case, requires decisive action by the administration to protect consumers and freedom of expression by unleashing innovation and competition. I have no doubt they will do exactly that.
Alan Sears, a former federal prosecutor, was Chief of the Criminal Section for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky and served as the founding President, CEO, and General Counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom.
