Financial Industry to Give Consumers More Control Over Their Data

Created by Fidelity, Akoya℠ Becomes an Independent Company; operates a network for the entire industry

Jointly owned by 11 banks, Fidelity and The Clearing House, Akoya℠ to accelerate the movement toward more secure APIs

BOSTON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To give consumers more control over their data, FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, today announced the spin-off of Akoya℠ as an independent company that will be jointly owned by Fidelity, The Clearing House Payments Co. and 11 of its member banks. Akoya operates a secure application programming interface-based (API) network that creates a safer and more transparent way for consumers to grant access to their personal financial data to third-party financial apps. The network acts as a bridge between financial institutions and data recipients, such as fintechs/data aggregators, and is available to the entire financial services industry.

Currently, consumers often provide their account login credentials to third-party data recipients, such as financial apps or data aggregators, in order to share their financial data to help them manage their finances. The new network, while also increasing the safety and security of the financial system, will accelerate the adoption of APIs to offer secure access to data, an effort already initiated by some financial institutions.

Akoya provides a network-based option for sharing financial data between financial institutions and data recipients in a way that can improve transparency and reduce cybersecurity, privacy, and financial risks compared to data-sharing methods that rely on consumer-provided online credentials. This network-based approach will provide consumers greater control and enable informed consent when they choose to share their data with data recipients.

Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, Huntington Bank, JPMorgan Chase, KeyBank, PNC Bank, The Clearing House Payments Co., TD Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo & Company, are the new owners of Akoya.

“Consumers’ personal financial data should only be accessed with their explicit consent and they should have the ability to monitor and revoke that access,” said Abigail P. Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Fidelity Investments. “For this reason, we created Akoya and are now joining with several financial institutions to accelerate the availability of a secure, transparent and more reliable network for the entire financial services industry.”

“This is a major step forward in giving consumers control of their data and allowing them to share that data securely with third-party applications they want to use,” said Michael Corbat, CEO of Citigroup and Chairman of The Clearing House. “Data security is a top priority for the industry, and bringing Akoya together with The Clearing House and its members will meaningfully advance the availability of a secure data sharing ecosystem while preserving customer choice.”

Unveiled by Fidelity in 2019, Akoya will operate separately from its owners and establish new protocols and connections. Financial institutions and data recipients can connect to Akoya’s network-based solution so consumers can control and safely share only the data that financial apps require.

“Every consumer has the right to share their financial data in order to receive valuable services and information, but it must be done in a safe and transparent manner,” said Stuart Rubinstein, CEO of Akoya. “Financial institutions and data recipients will have access to an efficient, effective and secure option without the need to build and maintain multiple connections between each other.”

Akoya’s API is aligned with the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) standard. FDX is a non-profit comprised of financial institutions and data recipients that is dedicated to advancing API standards for more secure and convenient consumer and business access to their financial data.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as financial advisor to The Clearing House Payments Co.

About Akoya

Akoya serves as a financial data access network connecting financial institutions and data recipients. The company’s platform enables consumer-permissioned data access based on standardized APIs and eliminates the need for consumers to share account user ids and passwords. With streamlined integration and reduced maintenance, Akoya has created a safer and more efficient data access ecosystem. Learn more at akoya.com.

About Fidelity Investments

Fidelity’s mission is to inspire better futures and deliver better outcomes for the customers and businesses we serve. With assets under administration of $8.3 trillion, including discretionary assets of $3.2 trillion as of December 31, 2019, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping more than 30 million people invest their own life savings, 22,000 businesses manage employee benefit programs, as well as providing more than 13,500 financial advisory firms with investment and technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. Privately held for more than 70 years, Fidelity employs more than 40,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com/about.

About The Clearing House

The Clearing House operates U.S-based payments networks that clear and settle more than $2 trillion each day through wire, ACH, check image, and the RTP® network. It is the nation’s most experienced payments company, with a long track record of providing secure and reliable systems, payments innovation, and strategic thought leadership to banks and credit unions. Most recently, The Clearing House has revolutionized U.S. payments infrastructure with the RTP network, which supports the immediate clearing and settlement of payments, along with the ability to exchange related payment information across the same secure channel. These RTP capabilities enable all financial institutions to offer safer, faster, and smarter digital transaction services for their corporate and retail customers. Learn more at www.theclearinghouse.org

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