HSBC fined for CDR breaches

HSBC Bank has been caught out by poor data quality, leading to fines for Consumer Data Right (CDR) breaches.

The fines were announced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which issued the bank with two infringement notices. The total paid by the bank was $33,000.

The infringements “related to alleged failures by HSBC to disclose complete mortgage interest rate details and accurate credit card balances in response to separate requests for this data,” the ACCC said.

The interest rate complaint covered the period from February 20 2023 to April 25 2023.

“Some of the product data HSBC disclosed for its fixed rate home loan products did not include the corresponding featured interest rates advertised on its website”, the ACCC said.

ACCC commissioner Peter Crone said without accurate data, “users, such as comparator sites and brokers, are unable to present accurate comparisons of home loan products to consumers.”

The regulator also investigated complaints that from January 9 2023 to May 27 2023, the bank didn’t accurately disclose credit card balances in response to CDR requests.

The ACCC told the industry in April last year that it would pay close attention to CDR data quality.

Crone said it is “critical” that CDR data is of high quality.

“This means that product data and consumer data – which a consumer has consented to share - must be accurate, up-to-date, complete, and in the required format.”

He added that data quality is a “priority conduct area” for the regulator.

HSBC cooperated with the investigation and has rectified the data quality issues found.

A HSBC spokesperson told Digital Nation, "We have been fully assisting the ACCC.

"We will continue to invest and enhance our CDR program," the HSBC spokesperson added.