Stryd is digging deeper into home loan product data to unearth Open Banking’s “hidden gem”
A new analysis of home loan product reference data reveals 97% of bank brands can improve at least one aspect of these data disclosures under Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR).
From 88 lenders reviewed, offering more than 2,000 individual home loan products across the Australian mortgage market, Perth-based fintech Moneycatcha has identified data quality issues with at least one home loan product for 86 lenders. This has resulted in 1,431 products being referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), in some cases more than once.
“We’re sharing insights with the ACCC to highlight crucial aspects of data management practices for the greater good,” said Ruth Hatherley (pictured) , Moneycatcha’s Founder and CEO.
Product data must be made publicly available by Australian banks in compliance with their open banking data holder obligations. This information includes product eligibility criteria and pricing information, as well as fees and charges. When published according to the standards, it can support consumers to benefit from greater choice, convenience and confidence when selecting a banking product.
Moneycatcha harnesses home loan product reference data for its flagship Stryd Product Repository, a real-time product and pricing database used by mortgage brokers to find borrowers the best loan, thereby helping to make home ownership more affordable.
According to the 30-page report published by Moneycatcha under its Stryd brand name, the top five data quality issues are loan-to-value ratio, interest rate, repayment type, loan purpose and loan amount.
“Sometimes the data is missing, or it’s in the wrong field or format, and sometimes it’s inconsistent with what’s publicly available on the bank’s website,” Ms Hatherley said.
“That doesn’t mean the data is junk or the standards are ineffective, rather there’s work to be done to unearth the value of product reference data, because it really is open banking’s hidden gem!
“For the Stryd Product Repository to include as many mortgages from as many bank lenders as possible, we dig deeper into the data with thousands of lines of code and business rules, so brokers can make accurate product and pricing offers and help Australian consumers find a better home loan.
“As the data standards refine, we will see ongoing uplifts in the quality of product data being published by the banks and also non-bank lenders as they come into CDR from 2026 onwards,” Ms Hatherley concluded.
In April 2023, the ACCC identified product reference data quality issues as a CDR enforcement priority and in September 2024 it published the results of a targeted compliance review of 20 banking sector data holders which resulted in 11 data holders committing to remediation.
The prescribed format that is supposed to be followed by banks when sharing product data is stipulated by the government’s Data Standards Body which specifies technical standards such as REST APIs, data schemas and security measures.
In November, Ms Hatherley was appointed to the Data Standards Advisory Committee, which provides strategic counsel and expert advice on key issues in the development and implementation of the standards to support the work of the Data Standards Body. The committee includes banking and fintech industry leaders from Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Mastercard, WeMoney, Adatree, Basiq and Frollo.
Stryd’s most recent report on product reference data is titled “Digging Deeper to Unearth Open Banking’s Hidden Gem” and it is available to download here: www.stryd.au/promotional/digging-deeper-to-unearth-open-bankings-hidden-gem-download
