The CFPB on Wednesday released non-binding principles intended to protect consumers after they authorize a third-party company to access their financial data for financial products and services.

“These principles are intended to help foster the development of innovative financial products and services, increase competition in financial markets, and empower consumers to take greater control of their financial lives,” the agency said, in releasing the principles

“These principles express our vision for realizing an innovative market that gives consumers protection and value,” CFBB Director Richard Cordray said.

CFPB officials said that the agency last year solicited comments in an effort to gain feedback from a variety of stakeholders. The agency said that even as the agency releases the guidelines, some key industry stakeholders are working on improvements to consumer-authorized data access.

While the agency will continue to monitor developments in the market, officials said the principles should not be considered as a statement of the bureau's future enforcement or supervisory activities.

The principles include guidelines stating that consumers should be easily able to determine the ownership of a financial product.

In addition, a company should only access the data necessary to provide the service, should ensure the accuracy of the data, make certain that the information is adequately protected and should only keep the data for as long as necessary.

The principles also state that consumers should not be coerced into providing their financial data and should be able to revoke authorizations to access data.

And the agency emphasized that the company using the data must have an easy way to resolve disputes with consumers.