[dakev]

What's the alternative? 95% of banks in the US don't have a dedicated API. If there was no screen scraping whatsoever in the industry, then the fintech market would be much smaller. Any fintech company whose product is centered their users' financial information (and that's most of them) would see their potential customer base, and thus growth potential, sliced in half. On the consumer side of it, if you're Susan and you bank with Northeast Minnesota's Credit Union for Educators, then without screen scraping you are essentially cut off from being able to use the majority of fintech applications out there.

Screen scraping is a terrible compromise for sure, but without it, fintech, and the everyday consumer's ability to more effectively engage with their finances, would be severely neutered. One day, we'll have a rich financial ecosystem where financial institutions, fintechs, and consumers all talk with eachother exclusively through secure, reliable APIs, but until then, the only other alternative is to cripple this entire industry. Or have Congress pass a sweeping PSD2-esque bill, but good luck with that lol