JPMorgan Chase has announced plans to charge fintech companies hundreds of millions of dollars for access to customer bank account data, including transaction histories, balances, and behavioral signals. This marks a significant shift in data-sharing policies within the financial industry, as these data services were previously provided free of charge. Pricing sheets sent to data aggregators like Plaid indicate higher fees for payments-focused firms, potentially impacting companies such as PayPal, Square, Chime, Affirm, Block, Venmo, and Coinbase. JPMorgan justifies the fees by citing the heavy strain fintech middlemen place on its systems through excessive API pings, with Plaid reportedly being asked to pay $300 million annually. The move has alarmed fintech startups and industry groups, with some firms facing costs that could amount to 60% to over 100% of their annual revenue. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has stated that fintech companies should be responsible for these costs. Following JPMorgan's lead, PNC Financial is also considering charging fintechs for consumer bank data access, citing high data security and readability expenses. The Financial Times and Bloomberg have reported that this strategy may be aimed at curbing competition from emerging fintech firms. The Trump administration is also expected to rewrite rules concerning consumer financial data access, adding further regulatory context to the evolving landscape.