Issue 57: The CDR turns 5 years old today
The Consumer Data Right (CDR) celebrates its fifth birthday today. Over the past twelve months, the regime has moved beyond its “crawling, walking” years and is starting to jog, though it still trips on the occasional pothole.
How far we’ve come since last year
Action Initiation became law (August 2024). Parliament passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Act 2024, giving CDR the long-promised “write-access” capability. The Government has not yet provided specific rules, but the legal plumbing is now in place.
Government “reset” of the CDR (August 2024). The Albanese Government announced a comprehensive reset aimed at cutting red tape, lowering implementation costs and focusing on high-value use cases.
Open Finance expansion to Non-Bank Lenders & Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) (March 2025). Treasury amended the CDR Rules to designate non-bank lenders and BNPL providers as data holders, with phased compliance starting in late 2026.
Dr. Daniel Mulino was sworn in as Australia's new Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, succeeding Stephen Jones (May 2025).
Banking data, joint accounts and business banking are now stable; energy data has been live for nearly three years; and the regulatory groundwork is being laid for the first true “write” use cases.
New ADRs & standout software products
Biza.io and VTT – Biza was accredited as an ADR and launched a Software Product focused on Data Holder testing.
EY CDR NEXUS Pty Limited - Also accredited as an ADR again to support their Data Holder offering.
NextGen – Financial Passport. Now live across Connective, Mortgage Choice, and Finsure aggregator networks, Financial Passport utilises CDR data to pre-populate loan files, cutting broker processing time by up to an estimated 40%.
Frollo for Brokers – Financial Passport variant. Launched on 25 June 2025, the free portal provides MFAA/FBAA brokers with one-click access to Open Banking data; early usage has already generated over 1,000 reports per week.
Compliance & data-quality
Data quality remains the ecosystem’s Achilles heel:
NAB paid a $ 751,000 penalty (June 2025) for providing incomplete credit-limit data.
Regional Australia Bank (RAB) (June 2025) has been found in breach of Privacy Safeguards following a two year investigation by the Privacy Commissioner. The breach, affecting up to 197 customers, was caused by a software fault in RAB’s platform managed by third-party provider Biza Pty Ltd.
The OAIC’s Westpac assessment (May 2025) highlighted gaps in internal training and incident reporting related to data corrections.
On a brighter note, the ACCC’s performance dashboard shows average API availability above 99 % for Tier 1 Data Holders and median response times of 680 ms, down from 950 ms last year.
Trends to watch in Year 6
First live Action Initiation pilots. Treasury has flagged low-risk “Pay by CDR” and “Creditcard balance transfer” as likely early uses of Action Initiation.
Finance Passport momentum. NextGen and Frollo are emerging as “rising stars” in mortgage broking; expect more lenders to accept their CDR-verified reports in lieu of bank statements.
Energy-switching apps are hitting scale. Five energy comparison ADRs are now live and advertising heavily as power prices climb.
Non-bank lender onboarding. Early movers in the BNPL sector will seek limited-data waivers to start testing before hard deadlines.
Consumer awareness campaign. The Government’s reset includes a $6 million national advertising push—crucial if CDR is to leap beyond the 2% adoption mark.
Consolidation among ADRs. As compliance costs bite, more fintechs are likely to operate under representative or sponsored models rather than seek (or renew) unrestricted accreditation.
Looking ahead
Legislative fixes alone don’t guarantee uptake, but momentum is undeniably building. With write access on the horizon, Mortgage-Broker favourites like Finance Passport gaining traction, and new sectors emerging, the coming 12 months should reveal whether the CDR can transition from a compliance project to a mainstream consumer utility. By the sixth anniversary, success will be measured less by the size of the register and more by how often ordinary Australians press a “Do it for me” button powered by the CDR.