By Tim Poskitt
Originally published in Business IT
According to the EY FinTech Australia Census 2020, The FinTech sector in Australia is growing fast - 78 per cent of the industry is now post revenue.
Industry employment is continuing to increase, with median employment currently sitting at 10 fulltime and 2 part-time employees. There has been significant investment in the ecosystem too, with Athena Home Loans, Judo Bank, Airwallex and 86 400 attracting sizeable capital raises, and Tyro Payments, MoneyMe, Douugh and others floating on the stock exchange.
One area that has ramped up and coincided with the rise of FinTechs is open banking technology and financial data aggregation. While companies have been using data aggregation, a key proponent to open banking for over a decade, its adoption has heightened with the development of Consumer Data Right (CDR) legislation - and has been a catalyst for growth for finance companies wanting to put data at the heart of their operation.
Since its inception in 2017, CDR in Australia (which set out to give consumers greater access to and control over their data) has evolved dramatically. In July of last year, CDR went live for customers of the big four banks, allowing the sharing of data related to credit cards, debit cards, and deposit accounts. The process of expanding this to home loans, personal loans, and joint accounts began late last year and, as of July, all non-major ADIs will be required to allow customers to share account, and transaction data. This is creating a world where the use of data aggregation to better serve customers is becoming increasingly ubiquitous.
Five companies in Australia capitalising on this movement and adopting data aggregation and open banking technology to great effect are 86 400, Reckon, Moneysoft, Uno Homeloans and RateCity.
86 400
86 400 is one of Australia’s leading neobanks using data and technology to deliver a bespoke, mobile-first banking experience. The company has used data aggregation technology to give its customers a full picture of their financial wellbeing during COVID-19 by giving them the ability to see all their accounts in one place, delivering a better view of their financial lives and helping them take control of their money.
Moneysoft
Moneysoft helps Australians to manage their cash flow and net worth, to take control of their financial wellbeing. Traditionally, financial advisors collected paper-based information and statements from their clients to understand cash flow and manually draft budgets. But because this information was static, it was prone to being inaccurate or incomplete. Moneysoft knew it was critical to go beyond the static nature of household finances and gain real-time information about income, expenses, and progress towards goals. As such, the company onboarded user-permissioned financial data aggregation technology to collect real-time data that can be leveraged by financial advisors and superannuation funds to help Australians budget, save, and invest.
Reckon
Reckon is an Australian software company that provides easy to use, affordable accounting and payroll software for small- to medium-sized businesses. The company’s unique Reckon One accounting software offers a cashbook style ledger, automated bank data entry, payroll, and other features that businesses can turn on or off as needed. On a mission to create a brave new connected economy, Reckon uses direct bank feeds, as well as user-permissioned financial data aggregation technology to create data feeds between financial institutions based in Australia, New Zealand, and globally. By doing so, Reckon is able to pull date into one place, automatically – avoiding the need to work one-on-one with every single institution and manually pull data.
Uno Homeloans
Uno combines the power of technology to help customers find, apply for and monitor home loans across quality lenders, with a team of home loan specialists who negotiate with lenders and help them navigate the home loan process. Uno’s mission is to have the world’s happiest home loan customers who never pay more than they have to on their home loans. Financial data aggregation and pulling critical information together to give everyday Australians the decision-making power they need, is at the heart of what Uno does and has enabled the company to experience impressive traction.
RateCity
RateCity is one of Australia’s leading financial comparison websites. Its aim is to help Aussies make smarter decisions about their personal finances and help them find the right financial products. RateCity has got a team of data specialists who aggregate data and display the most up to date and comprehensive information on the market. The team manages over 13,000 products on a daily basis using information from a range of different sources including trusted third-party data providers and direct from financial institutions.
