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Data Aggregators

hank
edited October 2021 in Other Investing
This topic came up in a different thread. There seems to be a lot of confusion and controversy over these businesses. Solid information is very hard to come by. (I’ve searched for hours.) Apparently, when you access your account at a bank, mutual fund company, brokerage, etc. it’s likely that the actual functionality of that site is being provided by some third party under contract with the firm. Yodlee is one of the largest and a subject of much scrutiny.

One Story

Brief excerpt from above:

Charles Schwab & Co. and Fidelity Investments have finally taken action against "screen scrapers" largely by piping them better data that obviates the need to siphon it intrusively. For the first time, the San Francisco and Boston RIA custodians and retail brokerage giants will openly share data with aggregators -- and competitors like Envestnet-owned Yodlee--as well as each other.

In a nutshell - even if “anonymous” our data is valuable to others like marketers and investment houses who want to know things about how we invest, how much our holdings are worth and whether we’re buying bonds, stocks - or maybe opening a short position. A group of Democratic lawmakers called on the FTC in 2020 to investigate Yodlee for allegedly selling confidential investor information. The FTC took up the case, but I can’t find whether or not anything was ever resolved. I’ve read that a former Trump attorney is suing Yoldee - so they must have antagonized both sides of the political spectrum. FTC Case

Other links / citations welcome.

Comments

  • CrashCrash
    edited November 2021
    Nobody needs to know all the stuff they want to know. Whenever I'm required to give an email address on a web-form in order to proceed--- that's why I have a spam email address with false EVERYTHING in it. False name, gender, address, planet. I like to have some fun with it, often. Address? Same as Elwood Blues: 1060 W. Addison.
    https://foursquare.com/v/wrigley-field/40dcbc80f964a52081011fe3?openPhotoId=51c8a543498e037455e74f49
  • CrashCrash
    ...And I think you are spot-on, @hank, about the software being used to process trades and deposits belonging to a third party. An outside contractor. Which sucks it all. The sign out front identifies the place, ostensibly. But who's handling my money? Someone or something I will never meet or be able to locate. THAT should be highly illegal. But capitalism owns no conscience.
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