Australians can now gain control of their data to save money on banking

Australian consumers can gain access to their banking data from Wednesday, July 1, to potentially save money on the cost of financial services with the phased launch of the Consumer Data Right.

All four major banks are required to share a customer’s data, when they request it.

The reform gives fintechs the potential to find savings on banking costs for the data owner – most agree it will be in excess of $1000 a year – but after several months of testing the ecosystem, just two of the 10 fintechs involved in the initial program, Frollo and Regional Australian Bank, are accredited data recipients. Another 39 fintechs have applied to be part of the accreditation process since the Register and Accreditation Application Portal (RAAP) was launched on May 25.

Wednesday’s launch of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) initially involves savings or transaction accounts, or debit or credit cards with any of the Big Four banks.

From 1 November, consumers will be able to share their data relating to home loans, investment loans, personal loans and joint accounts. Smaller banks are expected to start being part of CDR from 2021, with non-major authorised deposit-taking institutions required to begin data sharing by 1 July, 2021.

Competition watchdog the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) is overseeing the introduction of CDR, with a strong focus on the security and privacy of the data.

ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said CDR gives consumers control over information banks already collect about them.

“It allows consumers to share that data with other businesses, such as fintechs, that may be able to provide them more personalised services and competitive offers,” she said.

“We are pleased that we have reached this significant milestone with the Consumer Data Right going live, so consumers can now request their data relating to their deposit or transaction accounts, credit or debit cards to be shared securely in order to receive those offers – without all the time and energy that it would normally take for a consumer to do this on their own.”

More about CDR is available on the new Consumer Data Right website.

Startup Daily spoke to ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court about CDR on our daily show on ausbiz.com.au. We’re spending the week speaking to a range of fintechs about the issue and how they see it playing out.

You can watch the interview below.