NatWest and National Australia Bank call for transition to ‘open data’
NatWest and National Australia Bank (NAB) have published a joint white paper advocating for an evolution from ‘open banking’ to ‘open data’.
The white paper explores the common threads that bind Australia’s consumer data right (CDR) and the UK’s open banking regime, which both aim to increase competition and innovation and empower consumers.
It also explains where the two countries have diverged in their journeys to implementing these frameworks, notably in relation to their respective scope.
Read more: Plend joins fintechs calling for more open banking
Both the UK and the Australian regimes are at a critical juncture in their 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.
“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,” said NatWest head of bank of APIs Claire Melling.
“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.”
Read more: Open banking hits seven million user milestone
Report co-author and NAB digital and data governance executive Brad Carr said consumers were increasingly looking for more integration in their finance products, which meant there needed to be a move from open banking to open data.
NAB chief digital, data and analytics officer Angela Mentis said customers will be the beneficiaries of convergence as the economy becomes increasingly digitised.
“We’re exploring ways we can utilise open banking to improve experiences and make things easier for our customers,” Mentis said.
“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.”
Read more: Challenger banks top OBIE’s Open Data Service Quality Indicators
