Regional Australia Bank streamlines customer experience with pioneering Open Banking solution
Regional Australia Bank is a customer-owned bank that has been helping its customers achieve their lifestyle goals for over 50 years. The bank has a strong reputation for being flexible, personable and being able to make the complex simple. Its Head Office is based in Armidale, NSW and its branch network extends to 38 locations across regional and coastal NSW. Offering a full range of retail consumer banking services, Regional Australia Bank has grown to become one of the premier banking alternatives to the ‘Big Four’ banks.
The bank has a focus on celebrating what it means to be regional, and a large part of that is being connected to its communities. In 2019, the bank donated $1.8million to community causes through its various sponsorship programs – equivalent to 16 per cent of pre-tax profits.
It’s also committed to offering innovative services and solutions to customers, has offered mobile and internet banking for over a decade and launched its New Payments Platform offering, allowing real time funds transfer, on the first day that service went live in Australia in early 2018.
It has now become the first accredited Data Recipient under the Consumer Data Right (CDR) – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission legislation which heralds an era of Open Banking in Australia. CDR allows consumers to request that their data is transferred from one service provider to another to encourage choice and competition.
In the past, when customers wanted to swap data between banks it was shared via direct connections or oversight processes which could be cumbersome and slow – or screen-scraping which many consider to be a security risk.
Open Banking has been designed to streamline and simplify the secure sharing of consumer data through a regulated system. Open Banking started in July this year with the four major banks as the regime’s first nominated data holders, and Regional Australia Bank and Frollo the first two authorised Data Recipients. By July 2021 all banks will be data holders and can also elect to become data recipients – further reducing the hurdles for consumer choice.
To make that happen banks need trusted digital platforms able to share and collect consumer data. Regional Australia Bank has developed its system using Microsoft Azure with API Management Services providing integration to the wider banking ecosystem.
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