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

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

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

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

Building on the government’s Open Banking agenda

In this Curious Thinkers 2021 panel on Open Banking, we heard from industry leaders Scott Farrell, Jamie Leach and Rob Hale led by moderator Kieran McKenna talk about how you can capitalise on the Australian Government’s pivot to a digital economy.

The session explores how the government intends to enhance the Consumer Data Rights’ functionality, leverage it to support the new digital economy and make it safer, more effective and inclusive. It wants to encourage organisations to become data recipients so it can persuade millions of consumers to share their data. This, in turn, will fulfil their end goal of creating a robust digital economy.

So, what can you do to unlock value from the government’s refreshed Open Banking agenda? Hear from Scott, Jamie and Rob as they share their insights into building on the government’s plan from a regional bank, regulatory and industry perspective.

Watch the video and discover what can you do to take advantage of the government’s plans to accelerate the rollout of the Consumer Data Right and create real and long-lasting data-driven customer relationships.

Panel session: ‘Building on the government’s Open Banking agenda to create powerful data-driven customer relationships’ with Rob Hale, Regional Australia Bank, Jamie Leach, FDATA and Scott Farrell, King & Wood Mallesons.

Product reference data sharing obligations commence for ADIs

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

Managing consumer consent in a digital economy

Consent management will be a critical function for the successful rollout and uptake of the Consumer Data Right (CDR). In order to meet regulatory obligations, organisations will be required to demonstrate that they have have in place secure and robust consent management capabilities and infrastructure that ensures they can:

  • Safely and securely share consumer data;
  • Efficiently manage customer consent preferences;
  • Maintain customer privacy; and
  • Meet the evolving compliance requirements of the CDR.

This is essential to establishing and maintain consumer trust and for realising the objectives of the CDR.

Watch the video for more on the role of consent management in a digital economy.

Product Data Store – foundational open data capabilities

From October 2020, all Australian authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) will be required to begin sharing Product Reference Data.

Bank rates, fees and the features of banking products covered by Consumer Data Right (CDR) legislation must be available to be automatically accessed in machine readable format in order for ADIs to be compliant with this first major Open Banking milestone. However, operational workflows and technology constraints can present challenges to the streamlined flow of this product data.

Cuscal’s Product Data Store forms part of our flexible and modular approach to Open Banking, providing organisations with an end-to-end, managed solution that takes care of CDR compliance obligations and realisation of the value-added opportunities enabled by the CDR.

Beyond Open Data with Louise Beaumont

Dr Louise Beaumont, Chair, Advisor and Investor at the second annual Curious Thinkers 2019 in Sydney.

Starting with Open Banking, we are moving to a world of Open Data which will fuel the delivery of predictive, pre-emptive, hyper-personalised services for both consumers and businesses.

Watch the video to hear Louise explain how we got here, where we’re going, and what it all means for the oft-abused commodity of Trust.

 

Get set for Open Banking

Image showing the KPMG, King & Wood Mallesons and Cuscal logos with the headline Open Banking

Open Banking is the first step towards an ‘open data’ future where organisations and people are all part of a robust ‘data economy’.

Open Banking is set to launch in Australia, which will see customers have greatly improved access to, and control over, their own data, all backed by the new Consumer Data Right (CDR). Open Banking is the first step in what will inevitably be an ‘open data’ future – in which institutions and customers are all part of a robust ‘data economy’.

In this Open Banking white paper Cuscal, KPMG and King & Wood Mallesons explore:

  • What lessons can be learned from international experiences
  • Why the customer should be at the core of any Open Banking-related strategy
  • The strategic opportunities Open Banking and open data present
  • The steps needed to be compliant
  • The partnership potential

Open banking specialists from Cuscal, KPMG and King & Wood Mallesons held a public webcast on Monday, 25 March 2019 to discuss the white paper and related open banking issues. The webcast features:

  • Bianca Bates, Chief Client Officer from Cuscal
  • Nathan Curchward, Head of Product, Emerging Services from Cuscal
  • Scott Farrell, Partner from King & Wood Mallesons
  • Ian Pollari, National Sector Leader, Banking and Global Co-leader from KPMG Fintech practice

A recording of the webcast is available. It is recommended for financial institutions, fintechs and other organisations that want to take advantage of the opportunities Open Banking offers, while meeting the compliance obligations.