open – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

Offshore entities – ACCC Guidance on Open Banking Accreditation

Sep 25 2018

As part of its release of the ‘Consumer Data Right Rules Framework’ (Framework), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has outlined its accreditation process for entities seeking to become accredited data recipients under the Open Banking Regime.

While Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) will have access to a streamlined accreditation process, all other applicants will need to meet criteria such as:

whether they satisfy a ‘fit and proper’ person test;
the appropriateness and proportionality of the applicant’s systems, resources and procedures;
the adequacy of the applicant’s internal and external dispute resolution processes; and
whether the applicant holds appropriate insurance.

Mastercard assists Open Banking

Jun 07 2018

By Jonathan Lawrence

On 13 January 2018 the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) became law across the European Union, leading to Open Banking. For background information, please see EU oversight on payments and Open Banking.

Mastercard announced on 5 June that it is launching a suite of services to help banks and FinTech companies navigate the Open Banking environment. The programme seeks to address the liability issues of banks sharing their data with third parties and to help startups to better communicate with their banking partners. For banks, Mastercard is building a pan-European directory of verified and legitimate third party providers, backed by a fraud monitoring service and dispute resolution mechanism. Startups in turn will be provided with a ‘connectivity hub’ that will help third parties establish and maintain communication with banks.

The new services will be launched first during a pilot phase in early 2019, with the UK and Poland being a particular priority, before being rolled out across Europe later that year.

Australian Open Banking Developments

Feb 09 2018

By Jim Bulling and Edwin Tan

The Australian Government has today released a report into Open Banking in Australia that sets out recommendations in relation to the method of implementation and proposed timelines. Some key points are:

the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) should be primarily responsible for overseeing standards-setting and accreditation, assisted by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for privacy issues;
the obligation to share data should apply to all Australian Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) as well as reciprocally for other participating entities;
all ADIs should be automatically accredited to receive data. A risk-based accreditation standard should be used for non-ADIs (this would include most FinTech startups, for example);
the use of Application Programming Interfaces to facilitate data sharing; and
mandatory implementation of “read-only” access should be approximately 12 months from a final Government decision to implement Open Banking for the big 4 banks, with a further 12 months transitory period for other banks.

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