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Category: Press Releases

Cuscal announces changes to Executive Leadership Team

Posted on by Marketing Team
Bianca-Bates

Sydney, 16 February 2024

Cuscal Limited (Cuscal) confirms that after ten years with the business, Bianca Bates has resigned from her role as the Deputy CEO at Cuscal to take on a new position at Smartgroup Corporation Limited (ASX: SIQ).

Bianca held many positions within Cuscal over her tenure and led Cuscal’s operating model’s transformation, client base diversification, and successful investment in new technology and products.

Craig Kennedy, Managing Director at Cuscal, said:

In the past ten years, Bianca has played a significant role in our growth trajectory. We thank her for her outstanding contribution to Cuscal and wish her the very best in the next chapter of her career.

Bianca will remain in her current role as Deputy CEO for Cuscal until the end of the financial year. She will be integral in recruiting a new Chief Client Officer, which will commence immediately.

Cuscal also announced that Angela Powell has commenced as Cuscal’s new Chief Risk Officer, bringing over 20 years of experience in banking and financial services both domestically and internationally and expertise in risk management, governance, regulation, operational excellence, and strategic transformation.

Cuscal signals commitment to Australia’s Open Data economy through strategic investment in Basiq

Posted on by Marketing Team

Craig Kennedy and Damir Cuca

Sydney, 10 March 2023

Cuscal Limited (Cuscal), one of Australia’s largest independent providers of payments, banking and regulated data has entered into a binding agreement, under which Cuscal will acquire a material controlling interest in Braavos Corporation Pty Ltd, the parent company of Basiq Pty Ltd (Basiq), a leading Data and Open Banking API platform, subject to customary conditions. A further update will be provided upon completion. This acquisition represents a significant and strategic investment by Cuscal in the future state of the Open Data economy. Bringing together some of the industry’s leading Consumer Data Right (CDR) and payment systems to accelerate the development of new services and customer experiences in partnership with our clients that will enable the convergence of payments, data and digital identity.

Basiq’s deep expertise in financial data aggregation and history of providing tools required to acquire and analyse financial data securely, are complementary to Cuscal’s payments experience and existing CDR solutions.

Basiq will continue to operate as a stand-alone business within the Cuscal Group. It is envisaged that there will be no material change to the current structure of the team at Basiq or to Cuscal’s regulated data business. Basiq will continue to provide clients and the broader industry with access to consented financial data and all the tools required to uncover insights through Basiq’s platform while collaborating closely with Cuscal on enabling new high-value use cases, including those that are made possible by CDR-powered Action Initiations.

Commenting on the acquisition, Craig Kennedy, Cuscal’s Managing Director said: “Today marks an exciting new chapter for Cuscal, as we fast-track our maturity in enabling the Open Data economy and cement our position as a leading provider of Payments and Regulated Data services in Australia.”

“Together with Basiq we have unmatched expertise and capabilities with respect to the combination of payments, data, and the CDR. We look forward to unlocking the full potential of these assets for the mutual benefit of our clients and the wider industry.”

CEO and Founder of Basiq, Damir Ćuća, added: “Using data-only solutions is helpful, but when combined with payments, the possibilities are limitless. Data is essential in making smarter payment decisions and with Cuscal’s expertise in payment processing we can create more innovative solutions that benefit end consumers.”

About Cuscal Limited (Cuscal)
For more than 50 years, Cuscal has championed competition in banking and payments in Australia. More recently, Cuscal has moved beyond banking and payments into the broader data economy. Drawing upon extensive experience managing payments data that is digital, regulated, must always be secure, and flows seamlessly between consumers and enterprise. As an accredited data recipient (ADRBNK2019) and the provider of compliant data holder solutions, Cuscal provides data holders and data recipients access to a suite of secure and robust capabilities for the collection, sharing, management and storage of data subject to CDR legislation.

About Basiq
Basiq’s vision is to make finance easy. Basiq sees a world where consumers are empowered to make smarter financial decisions and can engage with their finances in new and unique ways. Basiq enables this by providing an Open Finance API platform for businesses to build innovative financial solutions. The platform facilitates the relationship between fintechs and consumers by enabling access to consented financial data and executing smart data-driven payments.

Media contact
Simone Perryman: sperryman@cuscal.com.au

Cuscal continues to empower Australia’s data economy with the acquisition of industry-leading Data Recipient and Product Verification Testing solutions

Posted on by Marketing Team

Sydney, 8 December 2022

Cuscal, Australia’s largest independent provider of payment, banking and regulated data solutions, has made its first strategic acquisition in the Open Banking and Consumer Data Right (CDR) space through the acquisition of myCDRdata from Regional Australia Bank.

The purchase of myCDRdata positions Cuscal to lead in Open Banking and CDR with immediate access to proven technology that has been successful in market and that can be utilised across Cuscal’s client base and by the wider industry quickly and at scale.

myCDRdata builds on the existing CDR solutions Cuscal delivers to its clients. Through myCDRdata, Cuscal will deliver an accredited Data Recipient solution that allows for Data Aggregation of mandated Datasets enabling market participants to deploy fit-for-purpose use cases. Additionally, myCDRdata delivers a fully operational Test Harness (myCDRdata Pro) that enables market participants to manage compliance obligations by monitoring the health, behaviour and performance of CDR APIs.

Following integration by Cuscal, myCDRdata and myCDRdata Pro capabilities will be enhanced and adapted for use by new industry sectors as the CDR continues to roll out beyond the Banking sector. This will provide all market participants, regardless of industry or data holder service, the ability to test, diagnose and solve flaws in production data holder platforms, enabling them to avoid enforcement action for non-compliance due to API failure.

myCDRdata is well recognised and respected in the industry and is a natural addition to Cuscal’s proven and reliable payments and banking technology solutions.

Cuscal’s CEO and Managing Director Craig Kennedy said: “We are excited by the opportunity to acquire this proven market leading asset from Regional Australia Bank, which will position us well to accelerate our relevance and maturity in Open Banking and CDR. We believe the convergence of data, digital identity and payments is a key growth opportunity for Cuscal, and the acquisition of myCDRdata will accelerate this strategic focus.”

Regional Australia Bank, CEO David Heine said: “Regional Australia Bank is proud to have founded this leading product in the Open Banking space. This product is a representation of the hard work and dedication Regional Australia Bank continues to demonstrate towards future driven banking. We are excited to pass the baton to Cuscal, and assure our myCDRdata customers they are in good hands.”

About Cuscal Limited (Cuscal)
For more than 50 years, Cuscal has championed competition in banking and payments in Australia. More recently, Cuscal has moved beyond banking and payments into the broader data economy. Drawing upon extensive experience managing payments data that is digital, regulated, must always be secure, and flows seamlessly between consumers and enterprise, Cuscal provides data holders and data recipients access to a suite of secure and robust capabilities for the collection, sharing, management and storage of data subject to CDR legislation.

About myCDRdata
myCDRdata includes both software assets ‘myCDRdata’ and ‘myCDRdata Pro’ for consumers and enterprise. myCDRdata is a free, secure CDR discovery service for consumers, powered by CDR compliant APIs and UI, that lets them experience how the CDR works and discover their own data. myCDRdata Pro is a product verification testing and issue rectification service designed to help data holders and CDR service providers test, diagnose and solve flaws in their production data holder services.

About Regional Australia Bank
Regional Australia Bank is a customer owned bank that has been helping regional Australians achieve their lifestyle goals for almost 50 years. Known for being flexible, personable and being able to make the complex simple.

An organisation built strongly on everything that makes regional Australia special – and providing a new standard of banking to all regional Australians. Above all, Regional Australia Bank is about building better financial relationships with its members – and that’s something that can’t often be said of the nation’s larger retail banks. The organisation has proudly donated over $2 million dollars to community groups in regional Australia in the past 12 months and is an organisation that is truly proud to support regional Australians.

Regional Australia Bank was the first organisation in Australia to become an Accredited Data Recipient (ADR) in 2020 and the first bank to both publish and receive CDR data.

Media contact
Simone Perryman, sperryman@cuscal.com.au

Over 70% of NPP Identified Institutions enabled by Cuscal now certified to provide PayTo services

Posted on by Marketing Team

Sydney, 29 November 2022

A further 10 authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) have been enabled by Cuscal to offer PayTo services to customers. This brings the total number of ADIs connected to PayTo through Cuscal to 26, covering 33 bank brands, with eight payment service providers certified to provide PayTo Payment Initiation services to businesses.

The latest ADIs to be certified by Cuscal as Payer Participants are: Australian Mutual Bank Limited, Community First Credit Union, Central Murray Credit Union, Geelong Bank, Goulburn Murray Credit Union, Illawarra Credit Union, Orange Credit Union, South West Slopes Credit Union, The Mac and Unity Bank Limited (Unity Bank, Reliance Bank).

Clients certified to offer PayTo will make services available to their customers over the coming days and weeks, based upon their individual service delivery strategies and rollout plans.

About Cuscal
Cuscal was the first directly connected participant to be certified by NPPA as an Initiating Participant and Payer Participant for PayTo Cuscal facilitated the creation, orchestration and initiation of the first live PayTo payment on the NPP.

Cuscal’s NPP solution is the only fully compliant solution currently in market delivering all the features of the NPP, with access to all the flows and options for NPP messaging and services, optimising the PayTo and real-time payment experience for customers.

With over 4 years NPP implementation experience, enabling 60+ implementations since 2018, Cuscal has helped more organisations to access the NPP than anyone else, including more than half of all financial institutions and all of the payment service providers that are providing payments on the Platform today.

About the New Payments Platform (NPP)
The NPP enables smarter, faster and simpler payments for businesses and consumers, including PayID and PayTo, a new digital way for merchants and businesses to initiate real-time payments from customers’ bank accounts. PayID is a registered trademark of NPP Australia Limited. Osko is a registered trademark of BPAY Pty Ltd. NPP Australia Limited and BPAY Pty Ltd are part of the of Australian Payments Plus group. For more information visit www.nppa.com.au

Media contact
Simone Perryman, sperryman@cuscal.com.au

PayTo ecosystem expands with certification of 12 Cuscal clients

Posted on by Marketing Team

Sydney, 4 October 2022

Cuscal Limited today announced that 12 clients have been approved to offer PayTo services to consumers and businesses, expanding the number of Identified Institutions certified as Payer Participants and Initiating Participants.

Payer Participants enabled by Cuscal
The following clients have been certified by Cuscal as Payer Participants: Bank Australia, BankWAW, Broken Hill Community Credit Union, Credit Union SA, Defence Bank, First Option Bank, Horizon Bank, Laboratories Credit Union, Police & Nurses Limited (P&N Bank, bcu) and RACQ Bank, joining Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Great Southern Bank and People’s Choice that received certification from NPP Australia Limited (NPPA) in September.

Each of these organisations will now make PayTo available within their digital banking channels.

Initiating Participants enabled by Cuscal
Global Payments (eway, ezidebit) and Merchant Warrior have been certified by Cuscal to provide PayTo initiation services to businesses, joining Azupay, Ezypay, Monoova, Paypa Plane and Zai as Initiating Participants.

Commenting on the growing number of participants connected to PayTo through Cuscal, Nathan Churchward, Head of Product, Emerging Services said:

Successful completion of the certification process by such a diverse group of Identified Institutions at the same time is testament to the value of partnership and collaboration when it comes to advancing complex industry programs like PayTo. With over 14 bank and credit union brands and 8 payments service providers now connected to the PayTo ecosystem through Cuscal, we are cementing our position as the undisputed leader in the provision of enterprise NPP services.


About Cuscal
Cuscal was the first participant to be certified by NPPA as both an Initiating Participant and Payer Participant for PayTo. Cuscal facilitated the creation, orchestration, and initiation of the first live PayTo payment on the NPP.

Cuscal’s NPP solution is the only fully compliant solution currently in market delivering all the features of the NPP, with access to all the flows and options for NPP messaging and services, optimising the PayTo and real-time payment experience for customers.

With over 4 years NPP implementation experience, enabling 60+ implementations since 2018, Cuscal has helped more organisations to access the NPP than anyone else, including more than half of all financial institutions and all the payment service providers that are providing their customers with payments on the Platform today.

About the New Payments Platform (NPP)
The NPP enables smarter, faster and simpler payments for businesses and consumers, including PayID and PayTo, a new digital way for merchants and businesses to initiate real-time payments from customers’ bank accounts. PayID is a registered trademark of NPP Australia Limited. Osko is a registered trademark of BPAY Pty Ltd. NPP Australia Limited and BPAY Pty Ltd are part of the of Australian Payments Plus group. For more information visit www.nppa.com.au

Media contact
Simone Perryman, sperryman@cuscal.com.au

Cuscal becomes an accredited data recipient, opening the door to regulated data sharing and payments for Australian enterprise

Posted on by Marketing Team

Sydney, 23 September 2022

Cuscal Limited, Australia’s largest industry provider of payment solutions for the Australian financial services sector, was granted accreditation to participate in the Consumer Data Right (CDR) as an unrestricted accredited data recipient by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) this week.

Announcing Cuscal’s accreditation, Jamie Leach, Domain Lead for Regulated Data Services at Cuscal said:

Accreditation at the unrestricted level is a critical pillar of our regulated data strategy. Following the successful implementation of solutions to support clients manage their ongoing CDR data holder obligations, accreditation allows us to develop further and evolve our service offering to support clients develop high-value data recipient use cases as they pursue greater internal efficiencies and enhance the customer experience they offer.

Kieran McKenna, Chief Risk Officer at Cuscal added:

With a mature Risk, Compliance and Governance structure in place, we are working at pace with the ACCC to complete the onboarding process to fast-track a future where we can support more organisations to participate in the CDR. As an ADI regulated by APRA, we have over 50 years of experience sponsoring clients into the highly regulated payments system. With CDR accreditation we will provide similar services as an intermediary, sponsoring enterprises to participate in the CDR ecosystem.

Enabling end-to-end digital commerce

With the Federal Government regulating data across the economy, Cuscal is focused on building a platform that simplifies access to the wider regulated data ecosystem, beginning with data sharing via the CDR and the newly launched payment method PayTo.

Commenting on Cuscal’s strategic investment in regulated data services, Jamie Leach said:

Uniquely positioned at the intersection of data and payments, accreditation as a data recipient builds upon our trusted industry position and heritage in payments and banking and will enable Cuscal to offer a depth and breadth of regulated data services to Australian enterprises that will be unrivalled in the market.

About Cuscal

For more than 50 years, Cuscal has championed competition in banking and payments in Australia. More recently, Cuscal has moved beyond banking and payments into the broader data economy. Drawing upon extensive experience managing payments data that is digital, regulated, must always be secure, and flows seamlessly between consumers and enterprise, Cuscal provides data holders and data recipients access to a suite of secure and robust capabilities for the collection, sharing, management and storage of data subject to CDR legislation.

Media contact
Simone Perryman, sshields@cuscal.com.au

Cuscal enabling PayTo for financial institutions, payments service providers, fintechs and enterprise

Posted on by Marketing Team

Sydney, 30 June 2022

Following the announcement that NPP Australia has opened access to PayTo for the first payments service providers, Cuscal announced today it is enabling 45 financial institutions and payment services providers with access to PayTo as rollout commences over the coming months.

Cuscal was one of the founding financial institutions that established the New Payments Platform (NPP), Australia’s real-time payment system, and enabled over 60% of the financial institutions that were live on Day 1.

Since that time, Cuscal has strengthened its position as the market leader in NPP services, building a strong foundation of clients, industry relationships, expertise and scale over the last five years.

Cuscal currently:

  • Provides access to the NPP for over half of all financial institutions and payment service providers on the platform that offer real time payments to their customers
  • Processes 18% of payments made and 19% of payments received on the NPP

Cuscal is working closely with a large group of banks, payments service providers and software providers to support the ramp up of PayTo over the next few months. Cuscal’s PayTo development and implementation project has included many financial institutions and PSPs who wish to drive payment innovation and improved customer experiences using PayTo.

Bianca Bates, Chief Client Officer and Deputy CEO, Cuscal Limited, said:

Cuscal is able to support a wide range of capabilities. We are about enabling competition. We provide services that let our clients innovate and develop their businesses. It has been a rewarding process to work with our financial institution and payment service provider clients to enable them to be the early adopters for PayTo.

The first group of financial institutions and payment service providers integrating with PayTo through Cuscal will go-live between July and September, followed by fast followers between October and December. The gradual ramp up of PayTo is expected to be completed in 2023 with full industry adoption.

Cuscal’s NPP infrastructure, scalable solution design and modular API services have made it possible for both existing and new clients who are focused on investing in innovation for their customers, to extend their NPP services to access PayTo, ensuring they are at the forefront of future payments innovation across subscription and bill payments, ecommerce and in app transactions, embedded finance and account funding, and the bulk disbursement of funds.

Cuscal has also partnered with software providers to ensure that Cuscal’s NPP Payments and PayTo services are integrated seamlessly into all clients’ digital channels to deliver an optimum customer experience.

Cuscal’s expertise and scale has also attracted clients who are nimble, innovative and focused to take advantage of one seamless onboarding to enable them to be first to market with Cuscal’s NPP Payments and PayTo services.

James Foster, Chief Executive Officer, Ezypay, commented:

We chose to partner with Cuscal as we knew they could deliver on our requirements to be live with PayTo on Day 1. We are a leading subscription payments fintech and it’s comforting to know that Cuscal’s vision for the future of payments in Australia is strongly aligned with ours.

For more information about Cuscal’s PayTo initiation services, click here.

Payment Services Providers – initiating PayTo payments for businesses

  1. Azupay
  2. Ezypay
  3. Global Payments (Eway, Ezidebit)
  4. GoCardless
  5. Hay Limited
  6. Merchant Warrior
  7. Monoova
  8. Paypa Plane
  9. Zai (formerly Assembly Payments)

Payer Financial Institutions – making PayTo payments for customers

  1. Australian Mutual Bank
  2. Australian Unity Bank
  3. Bank Australia
  4. Bank of Queensland (BOQ and Virgin Money)
  5. Bank WAW
  6. bcu
  7. Bendigo Bank
  8. Beyond Bank
  9. Central Murray Credit Union
  10. Community First Credit Union
  11. Credit Union SA
  12. Defence Bank
  13. First Option Bank
  14. Geelong Bank
  15. Goulburn Murray Credit Union
  16. Hay Limited
  17. Horizon Bank
  18. Illawarra Credit Union
  19. Laboratories Credit Union
  20. Great Southern Bank
  21. MyState Bank
  22. Northern Inland Credit Union
  23. Orange Credit Union
  24. P&N Bank
  25. People’s Choice
  26. Police Credit Union
  27. Queensland Country Bank
  28. RACQ Bank
  29. Regional Australia Bank
  30. South West Slopes Credit Union
  31. Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (Teachers Mutual Bank, Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank, Hiver and UniBank)
  32. The Broken Hill Community Credit Union
  33. The Mac
  34. ubank (formerly 86400)
  35. Unity Bank Limited (Unity Bank and Reliance Bank)
  36. Warwick Credit Union

Media contact

Simone Perryman, SShields@cuscal.com.au

Queensland Country Bank partners with Cuscal

Posted on by Rachael Shupe

Queensland Country Bank & Cuscal logos

Sydney, 29 October 2021

We are pleased to announce that Queensland Country Bank has selected Cuscal as their single payment’s services provider.

Queensland Country Bank needed to find a partner who could help them aggregate all their payment service requirements, including Cards, Switching and Payments.

Their key objectives were to simplify their contractual arrangements, streamline operational processing and deliver products and services in a consistent manner across their entire customer base.

With an eye on the future, it was also important to Queensland Country Bank to find a partner who could understand their strategy, and who could demonstrate a clearly articulated roadmap to support it.

Cuscal prides itself on our speed to market and proven track record in enabling first to market solutions (e.g The Pays and NPP). We are also deeply committed to continuing investment in innovation to enable clients in being early adopters of new capabilities such as PayTo services. We are excited to be partnering with Queensland Country Bank to support them in bringing these services to their customers and look forward to a successful partnership – Bianca Bates

 

The teams from Cuscal and Queensland Country Bank have already started working closely together on the transition plan, with a view to have this work completed in 2022.

We are looking forward to a successful partnership with the team at Queensland Country Bank.
END

Cuscal announces membership of FDATA Australasia

Posted on by Marketing Team

Cuscal becomes a member of FDATA

Sydney, 18 March 2021 – Cuscal announced today that it will become the latest member of the Australasia chapter of the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA). Membership of FDATA will provide Cuscal with valuable advisory, regulatory and industry engagement opportunities through FDATA’s deep knowledge of Open Finance, network of global experts and position on working groups, advisory panels and task forces.

As a Consumer Data Right (CDR) intermediary, Cuscal is committed to supporting data holders, consumers and data recipients to connect safely and securely to unlock the value of data. Cuscal’s Collaborative Data Exchange will manage the technicalities of the CDR for data holders and data recipients, leaving enterprise to focus on one of the most powerful opportunities in Australian commerce. Forward intelligence from FDATA on key policy matters, changes and trends from Australia and across the globe will form part of the Collaborative Data Exchange’s program of continuous development, helping clients to respond to changes in the CDR, including the emergence of new regulation, expansion of the CDR to new designated industries, and updates to data-standards.

Commenting on Cuscal’s membership of the regional chapter, Richard Prior, CEO of FDATA, said:

FDATA is delighted to welcome Cuscal to our worldwide community of members. As Open Finance proliferates across the globe, FDATA shares Cuscal’s goal of enabling the future, supporting the delivery of Open Finance for Australia, and the enormous potential and ambition enshrined in the CDR.

Kieran McKenna, Chief Risk Officer at Cuscal, commented:

We’re delighted to be joining FDATA Australasia at this critical moment during the implementation of Open Banking in Australia. Through our membership we’re looking forward to representing the interest of our clients and engaging with FDATA’s community of members, the government, regulators, policy makers and other stakeholders to help guide the formulation of policies relating to Open Banking and Open Finance in Australia.

About FDATA
The Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) is a not-for-profit representing fintechs operating in Open Banking and Open Finance. FDATA work with government, policy makers, and regulators to implement a fair and ethical competitive landscape that promotes competition, innovation, and better consumer outcomes.

About Cuscal
For more than 50 years Cuscal has championed competition in banking and payments in Australia, leveraging our scale, banking knowledge, technical expertise and regulatory experience to deliver reliable and secure solutions that supports the flow of transactional data between customers and enterprises, ensuring fair access to the Australian payments and banking ecosystem.

Media contact
Simone Shields, sshields@cuscal.com.au

Product reference data sharing obligations commence for ADIs

Posted on by Rachael Shupe

Looking up at buildings in city at as sun is setting

Sydney, 1 October 2020 – Mandatory product reference data sharing obligations commenced today for non-major authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs), covering non-major banks, building societies and credit unions, and the non-primary brands of the major banks.

In compliance with the relevant laws, Rules and Data Standards for the Consumer Data Right (CDR), Cuscal has partnered with a number of clients, including Australian Unity Bank Limited, Bank Australia Limited and Bank of Sydney Ltd, to develop solutions that support compliance with product reference data obligations.

Commenting on clients achieving compliance with the first stage of CDR obligations, Cuscal CCO Bianca Bates said:

Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been able to work closely with our clients to successfully implement solutions supporting the disclosure of product reference data to the market. In some cases services have been implemented within as little as three weeks, ensuring clients have been able to comply with the timelines set by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

We are proud that Australian Unity, Bank Australia and Bank of Sydney chose to partner with Cuscal to deliver this first Open Banking milestone and look forward to supporting them, and our other clients, unlock data to capture new opportunities for growth created by the CDR.

About Cuscal’s Open Banking services
Cuscal’s product reference data APIs form the foundations of a larger economy-wide Collaborative Data Exchange platform that Cuscal is developing in partnership with clients. The Collaborative Data Exchange will provide clients with a modular and flexible service that takes care of CDR compliance obligations and also unlocks greater data enablement opportunities.

Cuscal’s vision is to offer clients a simplified, modular and scalable technology platform that is extensible and interoperable across industries and partners, providing clients the freedom to:

  • implement their organisational data strategies and ambitions;
  • unlock legacy data stores to ensure greater flexibility regarding the use of existing data;
  • combine existing data with external sources, including cross-industry information, to derive valuable customer insights that support the delivery of personalised customer experiences;
  • build on platform functionality and apply APIs to novel new use cases with minimal capital investment and business disruption; and
  • innovate and partner with third parties of their choice to offer new data enabled experiences to customers.

Media contact
Jo Savill, jsavill@cuscal.com.au