NAB becomes second 'big four' data recipient under CDR

NAB has become the second ‘big four’ bank to become an accredited data recipient under the consumer data right (CDR) scheme.

The bank was accredited by the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) this week, meaning it will soon be able to ingest data from accredited data holders.

It joins the Commonwealth Bank – which became the first of the major banks to be accredited in February – and the Regional Australia Bank, as well as 14 other accredited data recipients (ADR).

Other ADR’s include credit bureau illion (and its subsidiary Credit Simple), software developer Intuit, comparison website Finder, and fintech’s Frollo, Ezidox, Yodlee, Adatree and Basiq.

Chief innovation officer Howard Silby welcomed the accreditation, which he said would allow the bank to deliver more personalise products and services for customers.

“A competitive and innovative financial services industry is critical to ensuring great customer outcomes, and the growth of the economy more broadly,” Silby told iTnews.

“NAB recognises the value in ingesting data as a key enabler to deliver faster, easier and more personalised products and services for our customers.”

Silby said the bank has been busy “developing several customer use cases for open banking” and is “employing a test and learn approach to refine propositions that best meet our customer needs.”

He noted, however, that it would likely take time for customers to become familiar with and trust open banking.

Digital lending subsidiary is also covered under the ADR accreditation, which covers NAB at an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) level.

Having become one of the first data holders when the CDR scheme first went live in July 2020, NAB set its sights on becoming an ADR last year to improve information on its customers.

At the time, now head of open data engineering Damian Fitzgibbon said the bank was looking at how it might use transactional data for income validation in home loans or credit card applications.

Customers are currently required to provide proof of income in the form of a payslip or bank statement, which Fitzgibbon said was a "really clunky process" for customers and could lead to fraud.

Other opportunities could include “giving customers an aggregated view of all their accounts, be they NAB-held accounts or with other banks, or being able to unify all their payment details”.

In July, NAB went looking for a senior product owner for open data on a “newly created team” with an understanding of the obligations necessary for ADR accreditation.