ACCC grants Liberty CDR accreditation

NOn-bank lender Liberty Financial Pty Limited (Liberty) has become among the first non-bank lenders to become accredited under the Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime.

In addition, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given Liberty Financial an exemption under section 56GD of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which has deferred its reciprocal data holder obligations “for all product phases until 1 December 2023”, effective from the date that Liberty was accredited.

The CDR has been slowly rolling out across the non-bank sector, after having already been established in the banking and energy sectors.

The mortgage broking industry welcomed the Treasury’s confirmation in December last year that non-bank lenders will be included in the Consumer Data Right (CDR) policy, giving way to more “open banking” loan choices for borrowers and brokers.

Speaking exclusively to The Adviser at the time, Frollo chief customer officer Simon Docherty outlined how this would benefit fintechs in the mortgage industry.

“We expect to see an accelerated take-up of CDR data used in the mortgage lending space in 2023,” Mr Docherty explained.

“The ability to share that data digitally through a secure and regulated system like CDR is quickly becoming a high priority for banks and lenders.

“This will lead to better-tailored products for consumers and faster applications for lenders,” he stated.

Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) CEO Anja Pannek said: “In our view, open finance combined with open banking provides a richer overview of a customer’s financial health, which will allow brokers to better match customers’ needs and objectives with products.

“Therefore, we are pleased that [the] Treasury has designated the expansion of CDR to the non-bank lending sector.”

ACCC rejects fintech application and fines non-major bank

The ACCC rejected its first CDR application in early January this year after it was “not satisfied” that Australian fintech company iSignthis would be able to comply with the obligations of an accredited data recipient under the CDR rules.

“We refused to accredit iSignthis because we were not satisfied [with] the material before us about iSignthis’ data security protections, insurance, and whether it is a fit and proper person to be accredited,” ACCC commissioner Peter Crone said at the time.

In addition, non-major lender ING Bank (Australia) Limited was hit with $53,280 in penalties in December for allegedly missing opening banking deadlines along with making “a misleading statement to consumers” about its CDR service.

[RELATED: ACCC flexes muscles in 1^st CDR accreditation rejection]