The CEO of FinTech Australia has come out in support of the second interim report from the Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre that could see critical changes to the way that Australian fintechs do business.
The topline from the report was the potential adaptation of an affiliate or intermediary model of Consumer Data Rights (CDR), which could help Open Banking to take hold in Australia.
“Last week, the second interim report was tabled by the Select Committee,” said Rebecca Schot-Guppy, CEO of FinTech Australia the industry peak body. “We'll have one more final report in October, but out of the second report, Fintech Australia recommended 20 out of the 23 recommendations. 16 in full and another 4 partial recommendations. This is an incredible result given that, from the first commission, we recommended 80% of them as well.”
“It demonstrates that the government is listening to the Australian fintech community and to Fintech Australia, and showing that the work we have done in our 5 submissions to the committee are finally being recognised. We really appreciate that and look forward to continuing to work with them.”
If Open Banking was adopted, it could revolutionise the fintech sector in Australia by allowing customers to move banks more easily and allow their data to be shared with third parties.
“The CDR launched on July 1 2020, and while it is an incredible opportunity for the Australian ecosystem to move to Open Banking and empower customers, there is a long way to go to make sure that the system is accessible for the ecosystem,” said Schot-Guppy.
Some of those key parts are the introduction of intermediaries into the regime. By having an intermediary regime similar to the UK, you allow specialised companies to enable the data to be shared in a safe and secure way, which means that other companies can, at a lower cost and barrier of entry, connect to the regime.”
“The Senate committee recommended that we do allow intermediaries into the CDR which is something that Treasury has progressed their thinking on, and I suspect that when we see the introduction to intermediaries, marketplaces and trusted advisors, the take-up of CDR will be much greater.”
