IMB Bank launches open banking

In its first phase release, NSW-based building society IMB Bank said it will share certain deposit and transaction product data, including relevant features, rates, and fees and charges through application programming interface (API).

The bank’s open banking API is available through the developer portal on the IMB website.

It will share more product data in line with time frames set by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and is due to begin sharing customer data with trusted parties from 1 July 2021.

Commenting on the launch of the open banking platform, IMB Bank CEO Rob Ryan said: “Open banking is an important step for the banking industry that we hope will, ultimately, benefit consumers.”

“With our data available, consumers have more transparency and choice, are able to make informed decisions on their banking arrangements.”

Mr Ryan added that the bank will launch its digital mortgage platform this financial year, adding to its online deposit and personal loan application platforms.

IMB Bank stressed that it would not share any customer data without consent from its customers, and will comply with security and privacy obligations relevant to open banking.

The open banking regime officially commenced in July with the launch of the Consumer Data Right (CDR), which enables consumers to securely provide their banking data to access bespoke financial products and services.

The CDR is currently limited to the sharing of data for deposit and transaction accounts, and credit and debit cards. The sharing of data relating to home loans, personal loans and joint accounts will begin from 1 November.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched a consultation on expanding the rules of the CDR last week to enable more financial services professionals such as mortgage brokers to receive consumer data with consumer consent.

One aspect of the consultation is to enable authorised data recipients to share consumer data with a consumer’s “trusted adviser”.

Submissions to the consultation on the proposed changes to the CDR rules are open until close of business on 29 October.

The competition watchdog announced earlier that, following industry consultation, it had adopted a new rule to enable accredited data recipients to act as intermediaries to collect data on behalf of other accredited data recipients.

[Related: Open banking to usher new wave of products]