JPMorgan Chase is the largest U.S. bank in terms of assets in the United States. More than 80 million customers and six million small businesses have accounts with JPMorgan through its retail division, including bank accounts, credit card accounts, and mortgages. The bank also provides investment banking services.
Unsurprisingly, the bank produces a substantial amount of revenue, to the tune of $44.9 billion as of the second quarter of 2025. It’s not exactly hurting for cash. Yet, the bank is very concerned about the cost of fintech companies accessing its data.
💵💰Don’t miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet’s free daily newsletter 💰💵
In fact, JPMorgan Chase is looking to charge new fees to many fintech companies, including services like Plaid and MX. Plaid acts as an intermediary that helps customers securely and easily connect their bank account to apps like Venmo, and other financial service companies, including budgeting apps and more.
While Plaid doesn’t charge consumers for its services, it does charge third-party apps. And if JPMorgan Chase puts significant new fees on fintechs, this could affect functionality and costs for consumers down the line.
Why JPMorgan Chase wants to charge new fees for Plaid and other fintechs
JPMorgan wants to start charging Plaid (and other fintech services that help customers make managing their finances easier) because the large bank says that the data pulled by fintech apps is taxing its systems. The data pulls are called API calls, and 1.89 billion data requests were apparently sent from middlemen to JPMorgan in June.
“Aggregators are accessing customer data multiple times daily, even when the customer is not actively using the app,” according to an internal memo sent by a JPMorgan systems employee to Head of PaymentsMelissa Feldsher. “These access requests are massively taxing our systems.”
Related: Court scraps FTC subscription rule just days before launch
According to JPMorgan, many of these requests are not initiated at the request of users of these apps, but instead are used by fintech companies to prevent fraud or improve their products.
JPMorgan says the number of requests has more than doubled over the past two years, and the bank is claiming this has cost more money to maintain the infrastructure to respond.
While many fintech companies are using the data, a review of 13 companies tracked by the banks showed that Plaid was the largest requester of the data, according to CNBC.
Traditionally, banks have been required to provide this data for free under “open banking” rules finalized by the Biden Administration.
Banks, including JPMorgan, are fighting back against these rules and are in negotitions to charge substantial new fees, which would cost Plaid an estimated $300 million annually.
New fees on data access could affect customer operations
While JPMorgan Chase claims the majority of data pulls were not initiated by customers, Plaid says this is a mischaracterization of the data.
“Calling a bank’s API when a user is not present once they have authorized a connection is a standard industry practice supported by all major banks in order for consumers to get critical alerts for overdraft fees or suspicious activity,” Plaid said to CNBC.
Plaid also explained that JPMorgan is misrepresenting how access to data works, because all activity stems from the fact that customers provide permission to Plaid to access their information.
Related: TSA issues urgent warning about TSA PreCheck
Other middlemen would also be charged extra fees, but Plaid would be hit especially hard, and customers could end up paying the price in terms of reduced functionality, reduced features, or even extra costs being added onto their transactions, as customers ultimately bear the burden when prices are increased on companies.
More on personal finance:
- Dave Ramsey offers urgent thoughts about Medicare
- Jean Chatzky shares major statement on Social Security
- Tony Robbins has blunt words on IRAs,401(k)s
JPMorgan told CNBC that conversations with data aggregators have been productive, and many have said they can change the way that they pull data if fees are imposed.
Still, it remains unclear exactly how Plaid’s ability to connect with your bank account will be affected by JPMorgan’s planned change and what services or fraud protections you could lose access to if JPMorgan limits access without exorbitant costs.
