Big Tech groups are losing a political battle in Brussels to gain access to the EU’s financial data market, despite Donald Trump’s threats to punish countries that “discriminate” against US companies with higher tariffs.
With the support of Germany, the EU is moving to exclude Meta, Apple, Google and Amazon from a new system for sharing financial data that is designed to enable development of digital finance products for consumers.
Such a decision would hand a significant boost to banks in their efforts to fight off a competitive threat from Big Tech groups, which they fear will use their data to disintermediate them from their customers while extracting much of the value of knowing people’s spending and saving behaviour.
After more than two years, negotiations on the Financial Data Access (Fida) regulation are entering the final stages in coming weeks, with Big Tech groups facing almost certain defeat, according to diplomats.
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“This is one file where the Big Tech players are actually losing the lobbying fight,” said one EU diplomat.
The reforms aimed to empower third-party service providers to access data from banks and insurers and use them to create new services such as financial advice.
But Europe’s financial industry fought a rearguard action to restrict access, claiming it would risk so-called digital gatekeepers “exploiting sensitive data” held by European financial institutions and “strengthen any dominant position”.
The industry concerns were backed by the European Parliament, and later by the European Commission and key European capitals such as Berlin.
In a document sent to other EU countries, seen by the Financial Times, Germany suggested excluding Big Tech groups “to promote the development of an EU digital financial ecosystem, guarantee a level playing field and protect the digital sovereignty of consumers”.
EU member states and the European Parliament are hoping to reach a deal on the final text of the regulation this autumn. The potential exclusion would risk renewing transatlantic tensions after Brussels and Washington agreed on a trade deal in late July. Trump has repeatedly threatened retaliatory tariffs against countries whose taxes or laws that treat US tech companies unfairly.
Big Tech lobbying groups are already warning that consumers – not just platforms – will lose out if the current direction holds.
“Fida’s original vision was to give people control over their own data and access to better, more innovative financial services”, said Daniel Friedlaender, head of Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe, whose members include many Big Tech groups. “By bowing to incumbent banks, the EU is going to limit consumer choice and entrench legacy players who already hold ‘gatekeeper’ power over customer data.”
Kay Jebelli from the Chamber of Progress, another tech lobbying group, said: “Big banks are the current gatekeepers here, not the digital platforms. Discriminating against US tech companies would not only deny Europeans new digital services, it would also stoke transatlantic tensions.”
The commission declined to comment. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
