Louisiana is on a hot streak right now. After securing more than $110 billion in new capital investments in less than three years, Louisiana continues to draw new businesses, drive job growth and attract families seeking opportunity. Maintaining that growth requires a regulatory environment that encourages innovation while protecting consumers from the many companies that are harvesting their financial data. To achieve this, policymakers must focus on preserving trust in our financial system.

That is why Louisianans should pay close attention to the future of Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, a rule that has immense implications on how consumer financial data is accessed and shared in a dynamic modern economy.

When Congress enacted Dodd-Frank in 2010, Section 1033 was intended to give consumers greater access to their own financial information. At the time, financial technology looked very different than it does today. Mobile payment platforms were in their beta versions, data-sharing ecosystems were limited and artificial intelligence was not yet transforming financial services.

Today, Section 1033 is being interpreted and implemented in ways that extend far beyond its original purpose.

Consumers should be able to use the apps and services they want to manage their finances, but doing so can require sensitive financial information with third-party intermediaries, also known as Big Fintech, often through lengthy terms and conditions that few people read or fully understand. Big Fintech does not have to follow the same security standards as financial institutions, creating a critical gap that can expose consumer financial data.

It’s a reasonable expectation that any company that can access your financial data should be held to the same security standards—and recent polling by The Trafalgar Group of likely 2026 voters that 89 percent support the idea that any company that can access your financial data should meet the same security standards as financial institutions agrees. But the current system is an uneven playing field, with Big Fintech not held to the same security standards as the traditional financial institutions protecting your data.

Financial data is among the most sensitive information an individual possesses. It can reveal where people live, work, and spend their money. It can allow Big Fintech intermediaries to build data profiles around you and your family and then sell it to the highest bidder. That means any business, legitimate or otherwise, willing to pay for access to your financial data could even harvest data and build profiles around your children.

As financial services become increasingly interconnected, policymakers must ensure that consumers maintain meaningful control over this information while Big Fintech intermediaries that can access their data adhere to uniform security standards.

The challenge is not whether innovation should continue. Innovation in the financial sector has delivered significant benefits to consumers and businesses alike. The challenge is designing a framework that promotes innovation while establishing clear guardrails for data access, security and accountability.

For a state like Louisiana, the stakes are particularly high. As our economy continues to grow and attract investment, consumers deserve confidence that their financial information is being protected and that regulatory policies are keeping pace with technological change.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is currently weighing whether to issue a new implementation of Section 1033. As that debate moves forward, policymakers should focus on returning the rule to its original purpose: empowering consumers without creating unintended risks for privacy, security and financial stability.

Louisianans deserve a system that encourages innovation, protects sensitive financial information and ensures consumers remain in control of their own data.

Michael Chittom is a conservative activist and Republican State Central Committee member based in Baton Rouge.