New PFM app granted open banking access

Wych Australia Pty Ltd, the company behind soon-to-launch AI-powered financial personal assistant app Wych Money, has become a data recipient in the Consumer Data Right (CDR) ecosystem.

By becoming an ADR under the open banking regime, Wych Money will be able to use a consumer’s real data from a data holder and then harness and analyse this information to provide a service/product for the consumer.

There are now 26 accredited or active ADRs under the CDR regime.

Speaking of the accreditation, Wych chief executive Dermot Butterfield said: “We are thrilled that Wych has been approved by the ACCC as an Accredited Data Recipient under the Consumer Data Right…

“This accreditation is an acknowledgement of the effort from our team in implementing a secure platform to service customers in Australia and overseas from the outset. 

“We are grateful to the ACCC and their team for the time and energy they provided to make this a reality. 

“In the coming months, we will begin to accept our first users onto the platform and look forward to changing lives for the better.”

Mr Butterfield suggested that the app will help support the “many Australians” who have found themselves “stressed and financially stretched” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our focus on automation ticks off to-do lists, reduces stress, and delivers saving on [users’] time and money so we can all get back to focusing on the more important things in life,” he said.

The Consumer Data Right regime continues to expand, with the federal government announcing last month that it is moving to enable consumers and businesses to instruct third parties to initiate actions on their behalf (once consent is given). Previously, consumers and small businesses were only able to use the CDR to instruct businesses, such as their bank, to share their data with an accredited third party in order to help them make better decisions regarding the products and services they purchase or to switch between providers more easily.

[Related: New CDR expansion to make mortgages easier]