Submission on the CDR designation instrument for banking (second round)

July 2019: This submission is in response to the draft Consumer Data Right (Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions) Designation 2019 ("Designation Instrument") released by the Treasury. Visit our government submissions hub for more of our submissions to government consultations and inquiries.

Finder's mission is to empower Australians to make better decisions and, accordingly, we welcome the work being done by the Treasury, ACCC, Data61 and other parties in developing the instruments and standards that will enable CDR. We are keen to be an active participant in the CDR, particularly in relation to Open Banking, and hope to help consumers realise the benefits from their new rights.

Materially Enhanced Information

There is a lot of focus in this consultation on the difference between "derived" and "materially enhanced" data. Our primary view on this topic is that more can still be done to help participants understand what is and isn't included in Open Banking data sets. The inclusion of the list of derived data that is not deemed materially enhanced in section 10(3) in the Designation Instrument is useful. As is the short list of information that is considered materially enhanced data in the Explanatory Notes.

Taking this concept further, we believe that building one definitive list of the information that is included in the Open Banking parameters, alongside any explicit exceptions and examples of derived data that is not considered to be materially enhanced, would be helpful for all parties. Our understanding is that these lists are currently split between the Designation Instrument, the Explanatory Notes, the Data Standards and the Consumer Data Rules.

Obtained Customer Information

The information about a product user "obtained by or on behalf of the entity that holds the information, or on whose behalf the information is held", as outlined in section 6(1)(b)(ii) of the Designation Instrument, could cover a broad array of data points held by an authorised deposit-taking institution.

Our understanding is that the scope of this "obtained" information is restricted by the Data Standards being developed by the Data Standards Body, with the current version including common identification information such as name, address and phone number.

In the definitive list of Open Banking information inclusions and exclusions suggested above, it may also be useful to clarify whether other "obtained" information about a customer will be excluded from the scope (e.g. information on customers obtained from third parties, information obtained from subsidiaries or information obtained from products such as Superannuation, which are currently outside the scope of the CDR).

Reciprocity

We welcome the narrower definition of reciprocity set out in the Summary of Proposals document. Our view is that a broader definition, where "equivalent data" means equivalent in importance to the business holding the data, risks unintended and undesirable consequences for consumers.