Laggard bank tech blasted by Treasurer, Productivity Commission

Treasurer Scott Morrison has taken a blowtorch to the slow pace of technology-driven reform in Australian banks, using the release of a blistering Productivity Commission report on financial system competition to vow the new Open Banking regime will be used to smash entrenched interests.

In a speech delivered on Friday, the Treasurer doubled down on the need to catapult Australia’s nascent Fintech sector from a niche IT play to a feared competitor of existing banks, insurers and payment schemes by using the new Consumer Data Right contained in the last federal Budget.

The Treasurer’s speech is the most explicit push yet to use consumers’ access to new technology and ownership of their data to propel the government’s goal of forcing banks to change by sharply increasing sectoral competition – namely new services not owned by banks.

According to Morrison, the desired outcome would be “financial institutions no longer setting the rules and demanding customers adhere to their purposes, but customers making the demands, setting the rules and forcing banks to react”.

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Source: Laggard bank tech blasted by Treasurer, Productivity Commission – Finance – Strategy – iTnews