Who owns a customer's financial data? How can improvements to payment systems improve the lives of all American families? Ford School of Public Policy Dean Michael S. Barr and co-authors Abigail DeHart (Michigan Law '18) and Andrew Kang (Michigan Law '17) take up these issues and several more in their new working paper, Consumer Autonomy and Pathways to Portability in Banking and Financial Services. The abstract is as follows:
One of the critical ways to promote economic security is by making financial services work better for more American families. Efforts to build a financial system that promotes consumer autonomy will involve innovation and reforms to our payment systems and more broadly, our policy and legal infrastructure. Such advances help empower consumers and harness technological innovation, but they also need to be grounded with strong consumer protections—especially in an era where people increasingly turn to technology to manage their financial lives. This white paper is designed to spark conversation among academics, private sector stakeholders, public interest organizations, legislators, policy-makers, and regulators about how to approach consumer financial data.