Lenders, lawyers brace for regulatory blitz on open banking
After much fanfare, the Consumer Data Right in banking is doing ... not much. Now the ACCC is making veiled warnings of greater regulatory enforcement.
Open Banking, the buzzword for consumer data reforms that were supposed to revolutionise Australia's financial industry, has stalled in Australia. The first stage of a broader push to force the big banks to share proprietary data with competitors, allowing consumers to easily switch between institutions in a change akin to porting a mobile phone between carriers, has not amounted to much.
But competition lawyers now believe the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the regulator in charge, is losing patience with recalcitrant banks and preparing to ramp up enforcement of implementation of what is formally called the Consumer Data Right (CDR).
King & Wood Mallesons recently published a note “Enforcement on the cards with updated regulatory policy for the Consumer Data Right”.
“We do think that we are going to see more CDR enforcement,” King & Wood Mallesons competition partner Tamara Hunter told Capital Brief. “It could take the form of ACCC or OAIC (Office of the Australian Information Commissioner) action, and we are also seeing the regulators working together.”
