What is Open Banking?

In 2019 the Federal Government passed the Consumer Data Right (CDR) legislation which aims to give consumers greater access to and control over their data across the banking, energy and telecommunications sectors.

In the banking sector, the CDR is known as Open Banking. Open Banking will give you greater visibility and control over your banking data to assist you to better manage your finances. Open Banking will give you the ability to consent to sharing your data held by your bank with trusted third parties that have been accredited by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Under the Open Banking framework, you will be able to control which third party can access your data and how they can use that data.

The Mutual Bank’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) Policy is available here.

Is Open Banking safe and secure?

The safety and security of your financial and personal data is our primary concern. Legislation requires all financial institutions to offer Open Banking to their members, however, the choice to use Open Banking is yours. Data will only be shared with accredited third parties if you authorise it. If you consent to sharing your data with a third party, you can choose what data to share and how they may use that data.

Under the Open Banking framework, the ACCC and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) are ensuring that the highest priority is consumer security and privacy. Financial institutions, and third parties providing services via Open Banking, must meet obligations outlined by the ACCC and OAIC to send or receive data under Open Banking.

For more information on CDR data safety, visit the ACCC Consumer Data Right and OAIC Consumer Data Right websites.

What are the benefits of Open Banking?

Open Banking aims to deliver four key benefits to consumers:

  1. Helping you sign up more easily for certain financial products
  2. Saving time when switching financial services providers
  3. Finding products more suited to your needs or situation
  4. Supporting you to have a more holistic view of your accounts and loans.

Once all financial institutions, known as data holders, make product account and transaction data available via Open Banking, you will be able to consent to share your data from your bank, with other authorised organisations, known as data recipients, with ease. This means you may be able to get a holistic view of your finances and know who has your data and how they are using it.

When can I start to use Open Banking?

The Mutual Bank is a Registered Data Holder with the ACCC and has been updating systems to meet both the technology and the high data sharing standards demanded by Consumer Data Right.

Members can now share their banking data from a range of The Mutual Bank personal accounts at their discretion and authorisation, for example, savings and credit card accounts along with their banking data from The Mutual Bank home loans and personal loans.

By early 2022 members will be able to share information on overdrafts and business finance held with The Mutual Bank.

Data Sharing allows you to share selected data from your nominated accounts with an Accredited Data Recipient in order to use the services they offer.

An Accredited Data Recipient will provide a Consent Request service that allows you to securely connect to The Mutual Bank to authorise us to share your data with that Data Recipient.

Only data you authorise us to share will be available to your Accredited Data Recipient and will only be shared for the period you consent to.

The Accredited Data Recipient will have policies and procedures in place as to how your data is used and what happens to that data when you stop sharing that data.

You may exit from the consent process at any time prior to approval and you will be returned to your Accredited Data Recipient's internet site.

You can also stop sharing at any time.

Data Groups or Clusters allow you to authorise sharing of data within groups of related data. These data groups are presented under Cluster headings in our Consent Authorisation workflow and within your Consumer Dashboard. Each Cluster can be expanded to provide you with a list of the specific data you are authorising, or have authorised, to share.

Once you have authorised The Mutual Bank to share your data we will share the selected data with your Data Recipient on the agreed frequencies.

Your Accredited Data Recipient will use the data to provide the services or products that you have consented to.

Your data may either be deleted or de-identified when it is no longer required.

Your Accredited Data Recipient will have specific policies in place for how they handle your data once it's no longer required.

Accredited Consumer Data Right Recipients will only be able to access your data if you provide your consent. In consenting to share data you will be able to authorise the data you want to share with your selected Accredited Data Recipient. You can also stop sharing at any time via your Consumer Dashboard with the Accredited Data Recipient, your The Mutual Bank dashboard or in writing.

Some Joint Accounts, Business related accounts, closed accounts or blocked accounts may not be eligible for Consumer Data Sharing. Joint Account sharing is limited by the number of Joint Account Holders while Account Holder age limits are also applied when determining if an account is available to share. Please contact The Mutual Bank for more information relating to the availability of your accounts.

The Mutual Bank provides you with a Consumer Dashboard where you are able to review all your Data Sharing arrangements. You can also request us to stop sharing your data. This dashboard will be available from within your existing internet banking application.

You may stop sharing your data at any time via your Consumer Dashboard or in writing to us. You may also stop sharing by notifying your Data Recipient.

If you stop sharing your data the services provided as a result of this sharing arrangement may be impacted. You should check with your Data Recipient before you stop sharing your data to understand the consequences.

Open Banking Consent Management allows you to change the sharing status of accounts previously selected during consent authorisation.

Changing approval status of eligible accounts can be performed in the Accounts Shared section of an active sharing arrangement on your Consumer Dashboard.

This will allow you to withdraw sharing approval for an existing account, or reinstate sharing of a withdrawn account approval at a later time.

These changes will only be applied to the sharing arrangement being maintained.

Only accounts that are currently eligible for data sharing will allow sharing to be withdrawn or reinstated.

Sharing status of a joint account may be withdrawn by any joint owner of the account, but only the account holder performing the approval withdrawal will have the ability to reinstate sharing.

Sharing of joint accounts can only be reinstated if sharing is still approved by all account holders in the Joint Account Service.

You should consider the impact of withdrawing account sharing approval on the services being provided by your Accredited Data Recipient before updating the status of any account.

Open Banking Developer Portal

The Mutual Bank Product Reference Data API provides access to information about our products offered to members. Information on the contents and use of the API from the Australian Consumer Data Standards have been developed as part of the Australian Government’s introduction of Consumer Data Right legislation.

Endpoints

API

Endpoints

Products

https://openbanking.themutual.com.au/OpenBanking/cds-au/v1/banking/products

Please note:

  • The request must be a HTTP GET request to the relevant product API endpoint. At a minimum, the mandatory parameters defined in the specifications must be included;
  • These are public APIs and do not require authentication; and
  • The response will be in the format defined by the Consumer Data Standards

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