Business
JPMorgan Chase wins fight with fintech firms over fees to access customer data
An exterior view of the new JPMorgan Chase global headquarters building at 270 Park Avenue on Nov. 13, 2025 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase has secured deals ensuring it will get paid by the fintech firms responsible for nearly all the data requests made by third-party apps connected to customer bank accounts, CNBC has learned.
The bank has signed updated contracts with the fintech middlemen that make up more than 95% of the data pulls on its systems, including Plaid, Yodlee, Morningstar and Akoya, according to JPMorgan spokesman Drew Pusateri.
“We’ve come to agreements that will make the open banking ecosystem safer and more sustainable and allow customers to continue reliably and securely accessing their favorite financial products,” Pusateri said in a statement. “The free market worked.”
The milestone is the latest twist in a long-running dispute between traditional banks and the fintech industry over access to customer accounts. For years, middlemen like Plaid paid nothing to tap bank systems when a customer wanted to use a fintech app like Robinhood to draw funds or check balances.
That dynamic appeared to be enshrined in law in late 2024, when the Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized what is known as the “open-banking rule” requiring banks to share customer data with other financial firms at no cost.
But banks sued to prevent the CFPB rule from taking hold and seemed to gain the upper hand in May after the Trump administration asked a federal court to vacate the rule.
Soon after, JPMorgan — the largest U.S. bank by assets, deposits and branches — reportedly told the middlemen that it would start charging what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars for access to its customer data.
In response, fintech, crypto and venture capital executives argued that the bank was engaging in “anti-competitive, rent-seeking behavior” that would hurt innovation and consumers’ ability to use popular apps.
After weeks of negotiations between JPMorgan and the middlemen, the bank agreed to lower pricing than it originally proposed, and the fintech middlemen won concessions regarding the servicing of data requests, according to people with knowledge of the talks.
Fintech firms preferred the certainty of locking in data-sharing rates because it is unclear whether the current CFPB, which is in the process of revising the open-banking rule, will favor banks or fintech companies, according to a venture capital investor who asked for anonymity to discuss his portfolio companies.
The bank and the fintech firms declined to disclose details about their contracts, including how much the middlemen agreed to pay and how long the deals are in force.
Wider impact
The deals mark a shift in the power dynamic between banks, middlemen and the fintech apps that are increasingly threatening incumbents. More banks are likely to begin charging fintech firms for access to their systems, according to industry observers.
“JPMorgan tends to be a trendsetter. They’re sort of the leader of the pack, so it’s fair to expect that the rest of the major banks will follow,” said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.
Shearer, who worked at the CFPB under former director Rohit Chopra, said he’s worried that the development would create a barrier of entry to nascent startups and ultimately result in higher costs for consumers.
Proponents of the 2024 CFPB rule said it gave consumers control over their financial data and encouraged competition and innovation. Banks including JPMorgan said it exposed them to fraud and unfairly saddled them with the rising costs of maintaining systems increasingly tapped by the middlemen and their clients.
When Plaid’s deal with JPMorgan was announced in September, the companies issued a dual press release emphasizing the continuity it provided for customers.
But the industry group that Plaid is a part of has harshly criticized the development, signaling that while JPMorgan has won a decisive battle, the ongoing skirmish may yet play out in courts and in the public.
“Introducing prohibitive tolls is anti-competitive, anti-innovation, and flies in the face of the plain reading of the law,” Penny Lee, CEO of the Financial Technology Association, told CNBC in response to the JPMorgan milestone.
“These agreements are not the free market at work, but rather big banks using their market position to capitalize on regulatory uncertainty,” Lee said. “We urge the Trump Administration to uphold the law by maintaining the existing prohibition on data access fees.”
Oil prices plummeted by more than 10 per cent on Friday, extending earlier losses, following an announcement from Iran’s foreign minister that the Strait of Hormuz remains open for all commercial vessels during the current ceasefire period, mirroring the ceasefire in Lebanon.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 dropped by $11.12, or 11.2%, to $88.27 a barrel at 13:11 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 fell $11.40, or 12%, to $83.29 a barrel.
The fall in prices came after Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X: “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.”
US president Donald Trump confirmed the news with his own post on Truth Social, writing: “Iran has just announced that the Strait of Iran is fully open and ready for full passage! Thank you!”
UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo stated: “Comments from Iran’s foreign minister indicate a de-escalation as long as the ceasefire is in place, now we need to see also if the number of tankers crossing the Strait increases substantially.”
The market had already seen prices decline earlier in the day amid speculation of further talks between the US and Iran over the weekend, coupled with a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, fueling investor optimism that the wider Middle East conflict might be drawing to a close.
Adding to the diplomatic momentum, Donald Trump stated that Tehran had offered not to possess nuclear weapons for more than 20 years, addressing a significant point in ongoing discussions.
“We’re going to see what happens. But I think we’re very close to making a deal with Iran,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Thursday.
As grocery chains face mounting pressure from inflation-weary shoppers and growing competition, some in the industry are starting to rely on artificial intelligence to protect margins without losing customers.
Traditional levers to protect profits or drive sales, like raising prices or running blanket promotions, are becoming less effective as shoppers split trips across multiple retailers in search of value. That dynamic has helped drive market share gains for discounters like Dollar General and warehouse clubs like Costco, forcing traditional grocers to rethink how they compete.
Many are turning to more targeted, tech-enabled strategies to balance affordability with profitability. One emerging approach is using data and AI to adjust pricing on perishable inventory, especially items nearing their “best-by” dates. Historically, about 30% of food in American grocery stores is thrown away each year, and some experts estimate that translates to nearly $18.2 billion in lost value.
Now with years of high inflation and a recent spike in gas prices making it harder for households to afford food, companies are trying to assume less of that loss, otherwise referred to as “shrink.”
“We see AI as a meaningful opportunity to both improve the customer experience and drive productivity across our business,” said Kroger Chairman Ronald Sargent on the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call. “We’re already seeing results from more competitive pricing.”
According to a Deloitte study, 89% of people are shopping for discounts and deals. Numerator data shows that shoppers are visiting 23% more retailers to purchase their groceries.
That makes setting the right prices at the right time more crucial than ever.
Still, making the right real-time pricing decision requires a break from traditional playbooks. Platforms like Flashfood are helping grocers dynamically price those items, which could aid them in limiting losses from food waste.
“Not only is everyone now a value shopper, but shoppers have the information and resources available to find the best deal,” said Flashfood CEO Jordan Schenck. “This raises the stakes in terms of competition between grocers, because they’re now competing with value-specific retailers.”
This has created a unique paradigm shift for grocers who have seen increased competition from other retailers, Schenck said, and pressure to figure out how to create value without eroding their brands through yellow sticker markdowns and discounting.
Flashfood connects shoppers with local grocery stores to purchase food nearing its best-by date at a discount. Users browse, purchase and pay for items directly through the app, then pick up orders from a designated “Flashfood zone” fridge in store.
Kroger’s Flashfood app.
Courtesy: Kroger
Flashfood says it helps grocers to sell fresh food by converting what would have been shrink into incremental revenue. The company is expanding to more than 100 additional Kroger stores this month, building on a footprint that already spans over 2,000 locations across North America.
The pitch is that retailers don’t have to choose between offering affordability to shoppers and boosting their margins. By using AI to target discounts precisely, rather than marking down an entire category, Flashfood says stores can improve sell-through while reducing waste. The end goal is more sales of perishable food and less product ending up in landfills.
Flashfood says its partners, which include Kroger but also regional chains like Piggly Wiggly, Loblaws and Gelson’s, and have reduced shrink by an average of 27% while also driving incremental traffic. Shoppers using the app make nearly four additional trips per month on average and spend about $28 more per visit on full-priced items beyond their discounted purchases, according to the company.
Advertisement for Kroger’s Flashfood app.
Courtesy: Kroger
At the same time, the data generated from these systems is giving retailers deeper insight into consumer behavior by identifying what products will sell, at what price and at what point in their shelf lives. That’s especially important in categories like fresh foods and bakery, where margins are tighter and spoilage risk is higher.
“Grocery stores have some of the best personalized data, but not all grocery stores know what to do with the data,” said Roth Capital Partners analyst Bill Kirk. “Kroger has been at the forefront of recognizing the importance of their data and the insights that can be derived.”
Kirk has a buy rating on the stock and $78 price target, higher than its Thursday closing price of $67.77.
Bridging that gap between surplus inventory and value-seeking shoppers is emerging as one of the clearest opportunities grocers are trying to cash in on to improve profitability.
The boss of Tesco has said the supermarket giant will do “whatever we can” to keep down the price of food for shoppers as it warned that uncertainty linked to the Iran war is clouding its outlook for profits.
The UK’s largest supermarket chain said it has not yet seen any impact on product availability or prices, excluding fuel, since the conflict began at the end of February.
However, it said has been in contact with the Government to help plan for a worst-case scenario which could see the ongoing war lead to shortages of carbon dioxide used by the food industry.
Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, told reporters: “We haven’t seen any issues and are in very strong shape.
“We constantly talk to our suppliers and none of our suppliers have raised any issues.”
He also said the retailer does not recognise predictions from the Food and Drink Federation that food inflation could jump above 9% this year if the conflict continues, stressing that it has not yet seen an impact on prices.
Fuel prices have already jumped higher in recent months due to the war between US-Israeli and Iranian forces, which have impacted energy production facilities and shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Murphy said: “We are in good shape in our fuel stocks.
“We have seen elevated demand recently but we are still very competitively stocked.”
The boss also added that the retailer has not yet seen any impact from the conflict on customer sentiment in the UK.
It came as Tesco said that profits could dip over the current year as it flagged increased uncertainty linked to the conflict in the Middle East.
The UK’s largest supermarket group reported stronger-than-expected adjusted operating profits of £3.15 billion for the year to February 28, up slightly from £3.13 billion a year earlier.
The retailer said it expects this to be between £3 billion and £3.3 billion over the current financial year, telling shareholders it was “providing a wider range of guidance than we were previously planning” due to uncertainty caused by the Iran war.
Tesco also revealed that sales, excluding VAT and fuel, grew by 4.6% to £66.6 billion for the past year.
The group said on Thursday that it plans to make a further £500 million in cost savings in 2026/27, after surpassing its £535 million savings target last year.
Mr Murphy added: “We are committed to doing whatever we can to help keep down the cost of the weekly shop, and with the conflict in the Middle East creating further uncertainty for consumers and the economy more broadly, that commitment matters more than ever.
“Over the last year, despite cost pressures from new regulation, we have increased our investments in keeping prices low, further improving quality and offering even better service.
“Customers are choosing to shop more with us as a result, leading to our highest market share for over a decade.”
Tesco also announced that it will hand a £65 million award to its staff across its stores, warehouses and customers engagement centres following the latest performance.
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