Envestnet, Wells Fargo Clinch Data Sharing Deal

"In the future, Wells Fargo customers using financial apps that leverage the Envestnet | Yodlee Platform will have greater control over and transparency into the financial information they share with these apps through Wells Fargo's Control Tower digital experience," the firms said.

Control Tower, available in the Wells Fargo Mobile Banking app and via online banking, helps consumer and small-business customers "better manage their increasingly complex online financial lives by providing a single view of their Wells Fargo digital financial footprint," the companies said. Within Control Tower, customers will be able to turn on and off data sharing with Envestnet | Yodlee-supported apps and also select the information they want to share with these apps, they noted.

The pact "enables even more consumer choice, protection, and insight, ultimately giving consumers more control and an improved overall financial wellbeing — something that is vital during a particularly uncertain economic landscape," according to Chad A. Wiechers, senior vice president of Data Access & Management at Envestnet | Yodlee.

Calling the deal "a positive for both companies," Joel Bruckenstein, head of the Technology Tools for Today (T3) hub, told ThinkAdvisor Friday by phone: "This essentially benefits everybody but the real winner, in my opinion, is the consumer."

— Check out Envestnet, Yodlee Sued Over Consumer Data Collection on ThinkAdvisor.