The following content is sponsored by Save Our States and is written by its founder and executive director, Trent England.  

Big banks are once again trying to tip the playing field in their favor, this time by dismantling a vital consumer protection known as Rule 1033. If they win, ordinary Americans will lose control of our own financial data and our power to choose how we use it. The big banks would then be free to crush or consolidate the upstarts and innovators whose financial technology empowers small businesses and increases consumer choice.

At Save Our States, we launched our Banks vs. America campaign to call out this power grab. While the issue sounds technical, its effects are practical. Rule 1033 enforces part of the Dodd-Frank Act, which guarantees that Americans (not banks) own their personal financial data. It underpins what’s known as Open Banking, the principle that consumers should be free to use their own financial data to find deals, make donations, compare mortgage rates, automate savings, or track spending using independent apps.

That freedom sparked a revolution of consumer-friendly innovation and choice. Millions of Americans now use apps and tools that exist because of open banking. People use these systems to budget for groceries, tithe to churches, and run small businesses. And many smaller, community banks—often the lifeblood of rural and small-town economies—also rely on open banking to offer their customers the same kind of digital tools as their “too big to fail” competitors. In other words, Rule 1033 helps Main Street compete with Wall Street.

Wall Street doesn’t like it. Giant banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are pushing to weaken or kill Rule 1033. They claim to support innovation, but their lobbying tells a different story. Without open banking, they could limit consumer choice, either directly or by adding new fees, in order to squash competition.

Let’s be clear about what that means. If Wall Street succeeds, it won’t just limit your ability to shop for better rates or easily support small charities. It will throttle new technologies like crypto and other innovations that thrive on open systems and individual empowerment. These technologies threaten the old financial order, so the big banks want to shut them down. Their goal is protecting market share and political influence, not providing security or consumer protection.

We’ve already seen how the biggest banks use their influence. They’ve debanked conservatives, shut down accounts for certain industries, and imposed political tests that have nothing to do with sound finance. Even President Trump and his family have been targeted. Should we now let these same institutions tighten their grip on our personal financial data?

This week, the heads of the biggest banks are going to the White House for dinner with President Trump. They probably won’t apologize. More likely, they’ll try to rewrite history, pretending they never meant to use their power against the Trumps or to debank conservatives. They hope the president and his team will forget their betrayal and that they can persuade him open banking is bad in an effort to increase their own power.

Rule 1033 is a bulwark that protects Main Street—small businesses, community banks, and individual Americans. It lets consumers compare, choose, and move their own money around. It makes it possible for smaller lenders and startups to keep big banks honest. And it encourages the kind of innovation and economic freedom that has always defined America at its best.

As the Trump administration reviews financial regulations, it faces a simple question: Should the future of American banking belong to ordinary Americans or corporate elites? Rule 1033 is about freedom, competition, and the right of every American to control his or her own financial destiny. The big banks already have tremendous power and regulatory protections that often give them an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

Weakening Rule 1033 would signal that Washington is siding with Wall Street over Main Street. Strengthening it would show the opposite—that this administration stands with the hardworking Americans, entrepreneurs, and communities that make this country thrive.

Open Banking is the new frontier of economic liberty. It deserves to be protected.