NatWest and NAB have published a jointly authored white paper “exploring the common threads that bind both Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) and the UK’s Open Banking regime.”
The agenda-setting whitepaper “highlights the similarities in the policies that underpin both regimes: to increase competition, innovation and to empower consumers with control over their data, as well as how the two countries have diverged in their journeys to implementing these frameworks, notably in relation to their respective scope in terms of ‘breadth versus depth’.”
Claire Melling, Head of Bank of APIs, NatWest said:
“By collaborating with NAB on this report we shared valuable lessons from the UK’s implementation of Open Banking, as well as our own experiences at NatWest of going above and beyond the mandate with the creation of our Bank of APIs ecosystem. We also have lessons to learn here in the UK from Australia’s approach to the Consumer Data Right – especially in terms of the breadth of data access being implemented there. It’s important that the industry acts on this insight from Australia as we transition from Open Banking to Open Finance and Smart Data in the UK.”
One of the report’s authors, NAB Executive Digital & Data Governance, Brad Carr, said there’s a lot “to be learnt for both jurisdictions.”
Mr Carr said:
“Consumers are now looking for more integration and connection between the main experiences they have every day, and that means evolving from ‘Open Banking’ to ‘Open Data’. There are a number of insights and lessons we can glean from Australia and the UK’s journeys in relation to Open Banking and the Consumer Data Right. It has been great to partner with our friends at NatWest on this report, as the UK was an early adopter of Open Banking and many other nations, including Australia, looked to the UK’s experience in developing their own regimes.”
Angela Mentis, NAB Chief Digital, Data & Analytics Officer said customers “will be the beneficiaries of this convergence as the economy becomes increasingly digitized.”
Ms Mentis said:
“We’re exploring ways we can utilise open banking to improve experiences and make things easier for our customers. As an active data recipient, one of the areas we’re looking at is how open banking can help us enable instant credit decisions. Immediate decisioning will have a transformative effect on the customer experience and allow us to better support a customers’ financial wellbeing.”
The UK and the Australian regimes are now “at a critical juncture of their respective development, with the UK looking beyond banking and finance to open data and Australia shifting focus to grow adoption of the regime and support greater system functionality.”
As covered, NatWest Group is “a relationship bank for a digital world.”
They aim to “champion potential; breaking down barriers and building financial confidence so the 19 million people, families and businesses we serve in communities up and down the country can rebuild and thrive.”
At NatWest Group, they’ve been “building the Bank of APIs – expanding on the foundations of Open Banking by creating an API ecosystem that’s allowing us to supercharge our existing customer channels, embed our services into new digital ecosystems, and bring market-leading payment and data solutions to our customers and partners in new and innovative ways.”