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You’re out to dinner with friends. The tacos and margaritas were great, the conversation even better, and now it’s time to settle the bill. You open Venmo or Cash App, tap a few buttons, and just like that, the money moves from your account to your friend’s.

What makes this possible is open banking: the technology framework behind much of the data sharing you’ve become accustomed to in today’s financial world.

It’s what allows you to safely connect your data with other platforms you trust, including a payment app or investment platform. It’s why you’re able to see all of your bank accounts on one digital dashboard like the one in SoFi’s money tracking tool. And it’s how lenders might check to see if you’re a responsible borrower even when you have a thin credit record.

In fact, open banking has grown to power much of our financial ecosystem: As of the spring, it connected over 114 million customers to third-party platforms in the U.S. and Canada — 50% more than a year earlier, according to Financial Data Exchange, which measures software that meets a certain standard.

But as the technology proliferates, financial service providers are clashing over how much to regulate it. And the debate is raising questions about the availability and cost of services in the future. Here’s what you need to know.

New rules on the table

Developed in response to consumers’ growing demand for speed and convenience, open banking took hold without any specific federal oversight.

But as its use has expanded, efforts to regulate the technology have grown, pitting many of the nation’s largest financial institutions against many of the fintechs and third-party platforms that use it.

Last October, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released the first government rules around open banking, requiring that financial providers share customer data — at no cost — whenever a customer asks. In other words, it established that you — and any app you choose — could access important data (your balance, recent transactions, product terms, and payment info) without being charged.

But trade groups representing many of the biggest financial institutions sued to block the rules, citing regulatory overreach and an increased risk that this sensitive data could be misused. And then the CFPB itself reversed course under the new presidential administration, asking a court to pause the litigation while it explores creating new rules.

What’s at stake

The regulatory limbo leaves the future of open banking unclear. With the rules unresolved, JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank, said it would start charging fintechs for access to its customer data, a move that could wind up hitting your wallet.

If banks charge the companies that work behind the scenes, those costs may be passed along to the consumers who rely on their apps and services. That convenient bill splitting could get more expensive. And new products that leverage the technology may never get built.

Critics of the CFPB rules in question argue that the business model is working without regulation, and that giving third parties too much access makes it easier for sensitive information (like your account balance and spending habits) to fall into the wrong hands.

But supporters say those rules will actually make the system safer and more transparent — and prohibit fees that could severely limit consumer access. (Full disclosure: SoFi and other fintechs are among those urging the Trump administration to oppose excessive fees for consumers to access their data.)

Whose data is it, anyway?

Every time you use a debit card, pay a bill online, or deposit a check, you generate data about your financial life — but that information usually stays locked up at your bank. Open banking gets at a simple but consequential question: Do those records belong to the bank that holds them, or to you, the person who created them? At the moment, federal law governs how financial data must be shared and protected, not who owns it.

But this much is clear: For consumers, keeping financial data safe and private remains critical.

“Banking data is some of the most sensitive data you can think of,” said Dan Murphy, who managed the CPFB's open banking program and helped craft the rules before leaving the bureau earlier this year. Open banking is meant to give consumers — not just banks — the ability to use their own data for payments, financial management tools, or credit applications, he said.

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