The 2020 presidential race is in full swing, and speculation about whether President Trump will energize enough of his base to stave off former Vice President Joe Biden has dominated headlines for months. With the Nov. 3 election less than three months away, Bank Innovation spoke with lawyers, academics and think tanks to learn how the two campaigns view important policies surrounding banking and fintech. In the third part of this ongoing series, we examine what is at stake for open banking as the election approaches.

The regulatory landscape for open banking in the U.S. has largely been market-driven, despite its inclusion in the Dodd-Frank Act, the regulatory overhaul that ensued after the 2008 recession.

That laissez-faire dynamic could change with this year’s election, as industry analysts and regulatory experts examine the likelihood that regulatory oversight of open banking will intensify, regardless of the outcome.

“I feel like the coronavirus has pushed us toward technology, regardless of what our political party is,” said Julie Hill, a financial regulation expert and law professor at the University of Alabama. “More and more people are getting comfortable with the idea that third-party fintechs should be able to access bank information if customers want that.”

As consumers warm to the idea of having control of how their own financial data is shared for a more robust banking customer experience, both sides of the political spectrum have displayed similar interest in the space.

“I think that’s an area where there’s probably more common ground than difference,” said Thomas Brown, a partner with the Paul Hastings law firm who is focused on antitrust and competition, as well as the global banking and payment systems practices. “It has become an issue of some priority with the Trump administration and it had elevated on the agenda with the Obama administration by the end of President Obama’s second term.”

Also read: Inside look: The state of open banking in the U.S.

Although there is no regulatory framework enforcing open banking in the U.S., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created a stir in the space earlier this summer with its July statement about proposed rulemaking around consumer-authorized access to financial records. While industry players mull the potential impact of the proposed rulemaking, there may be a slight distinction in either party’s approach to enforcing open banking, according to Brian Knight, director of innovation and governance at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

“I don’t know what that rulemaking is going to look like … if it’s going to come out and be relatively minimalist in terms of obligations it places on financial institutions or relatively maximalist,” Knight said. “If you had to guess, I would expect the CFPB under [current CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger] would tend to be, relatively speaking, more minimalist in terms of the burdens and obligations it places on banks than a CFPB under a Biden appointee — to be clear, that’s a relative measure.”

Professor Hill agreed, adding that “typically the Democrats have made it a bigger part of their platform to protect consumers, but these days fintechs are positioning themselves as, ‘We’re here for the consumer. We’re more consumer-friendly.’”

That sentiment has resonated with financial institutions looking to “take banking to our customers how they want to use it, instead of forcing them to come to us,” as PNC Bank’s chief information officer, Ganesh Krishnan, recently told Bank Innovation.

“Everybody is thinking about it in very customer-centric terms, like who are our customers, what do they care about and what do they need to more effectively manage their financial lives,” echoed BMO Financial Group Chief Digital Officer Brett Pitts, adding that BMO has been working toward a more open strategy that leverages tools and expertise from the fintech ecosystem.

With consumer backing, banking interest and a seemingly renewed bipartisan government interest, changes in the open banking landscape are poised to accelerate after the 2020 election and beyond.