- Key insight: Truist is expanding its open banking offerings through partnering with Plaid.
- Expert quote: "Real-world demand continues to be a strong driver in the U.S. market" for open banking, according to FDX board member Eyal Sivan.
- Forward look: The CFPB is expected to issue a new open banking rule, though the timeline of the rulemaking is unknown.
Truist Bank is expanding its open banking capabilities ahead of anticipated rulemaking from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank announced a data access partnership with the data aggregator Plaid on Thursday.
"By working together through cooperative data sharing, we're offering clients improved financial control and insights," said Sherry Graziano, Truists' head of digital client experience and marketing, in a statement. "By delivering modern, integrated digital banking through open banking, we're able to deepen relationships and build trust."
Open banking, a term used to describe letting consumers share their banking, transaction, and financial data with third-party providers such as fintechs through standardized application programming interfaces, or APIs, is in a regulatory holding area while the CFPB prepares a second version of an open banking rule modeled after Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Act.
Though a final open banking rule was finalized in October 2024 under the Biden administration, the bureau was immediately sued by a group of banks that claimed the agency exceeded its authority. A judge stayed the Biden-era rule while the CFPB considered whether to amend the former rule, but the agency ultimately decided to rescind and reissue an "interim" rule in late 2025. A secondary rule has not yet been released for public comment, and the CFPB has not disclosed a timeline for the rule's publication.
When asked about the CFPB's upcoming 1033 rule change, a Truist representative told American Banker that the bank "remains committed to complying with all applicable laws, rules and regulations governing personal financial data, and we continue to monitor and adapt to evolving regulatory guidance [and] regulatory developments as part of our broader commitment to responsible innovation."
The partnership also includes joint product upgrades for improving data quality and helping clients combat fraud, according to a company statement. For instance, Truist and Plaid will share data and risk indicators sourced from each company's existing networks to improve security. They will use an FDX-aligned API that replaces credential sharing for customers managing third-party connections.
"Together, the companies are expanding the capabilities of API connectivity and advancing data-driven innovation, including shared intelligence, to provide clients with secure and convenient access to their accounts," said Christy Sunquist, head of open finance at Plaid.
A Truist representative told American Banker that through the Plaid partnership, customers now have tokenized access to a platform that allows them to control which applications can access their financial data, and for what purposes, without sharing usernames or passwords.
Eyal Sivan, general manager for North America at Ozone API and a board member at the Financial Data Exchange, or FDX, is encouraged to see a new open banking partnership announcement despite the uncertainty surrounding Section 1033 rulemaking.
"This in and of itself is a strong signal that real-world demand continues to be a strong driver in the U.S. market," Sivan told American Banker.
Sivan said that Truist and Plaid are likely well aware of the pending open banking rule changes, but he believes that the pending notice of proposed rulemaking from the CFPB is not the primary driver for the partnership announcement.
"Instead, their focus seems to be as it ever was: to provide customers with better bank connectivity that is more reliable, more secure and more convenient," he said. "Being an industry standard, FDX lowers the cost to do so; getting ahead of Section 1033 is a bonus."
