Open Banking delivering more opportunities

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It helps consumers better manage their finances, access products better suited to their needs and potentially even switch products or banks more easily.

In 2018 the Australian Government implemented a “Consumer Data Right” (CDR) based Open Banking system to give customers more control over their own data. And since 2020 Australians have been able to give permission for third parties to access their data on savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, personal loans and joint accounts.

Like all new technologies, there is a lag between introduction, industry implementation and consumer adoption. As more banks participate and more consumers are made aware of the benefits of Open Banking – we anticipate adoption will grow.

This is particularly important within the current fraud and scam context, in which the Open Banking system provides a more safe, secure, trusted and accessible way for customer to obtain real benefits from sharing their data. Unlike other solutions, Open Banking customers do not share their passwords from other banks or third-party providers.

At ANZ we’ve been working to incorporate Open Banking features into our new ANZ Plus retail banking platform and experience. This is increasingly important as research has shown almost half of all Australians are a customer of two or more banks.

We believe Australians deserve a safe and secure way to access the types of tools they need to better manage their financial wellbeing.

Using the power of the ANZ Plus platform and a first for any Australian bank, we recently launched ‘My Accounts’, an important part of our broader vision of financial wellbeing.

This feature enables customers to view their eligible bank accounts in one place without having to flick between multiple apps or websites to get a wider picture of their transaction, savings, credit card and home loan accounts.

We are encouraged to see that in the two weeks since launch nearly 30,000 ANZ Plus customers have already taken up this option to use the My Accounts feature.

We are excited about the future opportunities to bring data driven insights and experiences to this growing user base and we will continue to test and learn with new Open Banking features as they become available.

The next stage of the Australian Government’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) plan is to enable “action initiation”. This would create a new channel for consumers to instruct a business to initiate actions on their behalf and with their consent.

Under the legislation, actions could include making a payment, opening and closing an account, switching providers and updating personal details across providers. We will monitor how regulation evolves and the uptake by consumers of these new services.

We want ANZ Plus to be the best place for those customers who want to make the most of their money and improve their financial wellbeing. We believe features like ‘My Accounts’ serve as a strong foundation to help them do just that.

Mo Khalil is Managing Director of ANZ Plus & Digital at ANZ.