Some speculation: - Banks like locking down your financial data since it makes it more likely you'll continue to uses the auxiliary services they provide. Ever

Some speculation: - Banks like locking down your financial data since it makes it more likely you'll continue to uses the auxiliary services they provide. Every bank I've used always has a built in send-money-to-friends and budgeting tool. By locking in your data, they help promote these service. - But mainly, I suspect banks never lose customers because of a lack of an open banking data API. Consumers don't demand it. With no financial incentive, why would they make your data accessible? Also combine that with the increased risk exposure from providing API and it's easy to see why they don't exist. Funnily, I suspect banks tacitly prefer screen scraping solutions like Plaid since it doesn't require the bank create any new product surface area that needs to be audited and secured. No new API endpoints to create. And in the event of a credential breach, it's easy to point the finger at the user who clearly just gave their password over to Plaid.