Finder gains CDR accreditation

Finder has become an accredited data recipient under the government-backed data sharing framework.

The comparison platform will be able to ask for a consumer’s consent to use their banking data to provide personalised recommendations via the Finder app, a money management tool the website launched in March last year.

To date, the ACCC has only accredited 12 data recipients under the consumer data right (CDR).

The Finder app, which gives users an overview of their spending patterns as well as insights on where they could save money on services such as internet and health insurance, has reportedly been downloaded and installed 122,000 times.

The Finder app also generates a free credit score for consumers, indicating how likely they are to be accepted for certain products such as credit cards and home loans.

Finder chief executive Chris Ellis commented that accreditation is a landmark milestone for the comparison website.

“Open banking will change the way consumers manage their finances forever, and we are going to be right at the forefront of that,” Mr Ellis said.

“Ultimately, CDR will enable us to alert members to better deals and facilitate switching in a very efficient and convenient way for the consumer.”

A recent consumer sentiment survey by Finder showed that 57 per cent of Australians have never heard of CDR, while a further 40 per cent were unable to explain what it is.

Despite the lack of awareness, three-quarters of consumers were found to agree that banks should have to share their data with apps, if it was authorised by the individuals.

“The data feeds provided through the CDR will be faster and more secure than anything that came before, and as the first accredited comparison platform, we’re perfectly placed to help consumers switch and save across a range of vertical,” Mr Ellis said.

“Open banking is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re excited to work with the government to bring the same framework to the energy, telco, superannuation and insurance sectors where we already help consumers.”

But Mr Ellis also reported the ACCC has set a high bar for the accreditation, to protect “highly sensitive data”.

Ben Nicholls, product lead for the Finder app, previously forecast that the CDR framework could trigger a proliferation of refinance activity among borrowers and it could enable borrowers to skip brokers and head directly to lenders for refinancing.

“A big chunk of [brokers’] back-book portfolio might [go] directly to lenders because they’ve got this open banking and refinance platform,” Mr Nicholls said on media panel in November.

But the broking industry appeared to believe the CDR and open banking could present opportunities for brokers.

CEO of Choice Aggregation Services Stephen Moore told a recent Mortgage Business webcast that he expected brokers to gain an advantage from insights gleaned from open banking, to fine-tune their services for customers. 

Treasury more recently indicated that it is considering draft rules, which could allow customers to share insights obtained from their CDR data to support loan assessments. The change, if it proceeds, could potentially help to speed up loan approvals.

[Related: ANZ forms open banking partnership]