Open banking, here we come: ACCC picks 10 fintechs to test data transfer

The ACCC has named the 10 fintechs participating in testing the Consumer Data Right (CDR) ecosystem — otherwise known as open banking — ahead of its official coming of age in February next year.

Selected from a pool of 40 applicants, the trial participants range from services helping small businesses manage bills and speed up payments, to those assessing consumers’ financial wellbeing or managing their personal finance.

Passed back in August, the new CDR rules mandate banks to share customer data, if the customer chooses, in a secure and machine-readable way.

It means it will be easier for both retail banking customers and businesses to compare and switch services.

The trial will see the fintechs testing the process of sharing that data, ahead of the official go-live next year.

Participants include neobank 86 400, which secured its full banking licence in July, as well as ‘fitbit for finance’ startup Frollo and recently funded Antler graduate Quicka.

According to the ACCC, they were chosen based on their intention and ability to meet the accreditation criteria by February 2020, their readiness to participate in the testing, and their proposed use-cases in the context of the new rules.

All of the test participants will still need to be accredited under the final rules before they can participate in the full rollout of the open banking system.

“Our intention is that participants in testing will be ready to participate in the CDR ecosystem from February 2020 following successful progression through testing, demonstrating their ongoing capacity to meet eligibility criteria,” the ACCC statement said.

Testing is set to begin next month.

In a statement, Moneytree founder Ross Sharrot said the new standards “offer huge potential for financial services organisations to improve their customer experiences”.

“Data exchange will have less friction and customers will become more empowered to manage their data, determining who to share it with, for how long and for which purposes,” he added.

“At the same time, the protections and guarantees for the end-users are high and better than what existed prior to open banking being implemented.”

Brian Parker, chief information officer at 86 400, also welcomed the opportunity to be a part of testing the new banking ecosystem.

“We firmly believe Australians should be in control of their own financial data, enabling them to choose where — and with whom — they securely share that information,” he said in a statement.

The neobank was built with open banking principles in mind, he added.

“We look forward to helping bring the open banking ecosystem to life so Australians can access better banking services, take control of their finances and switch banks if and when the time is right.”